


Love Actually Is All Around

by Erica_T



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Christmas, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-05
Updated: 2013-12-24
Packaged: 2017-12-31 13:45:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 26,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1032388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erica_T/pseuds/Erica_T
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Epilogue - One month later - Merry Christmas!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 5 Weeks to Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Loosely based on the David and Natalie storyling of 'Love Actually', with some creative licence and drawing lines from the whole movie as I like. You don't realize how short their story is until you're making notes on it. I am giving myself plenty of time, in the hopes that I will actually finish it by Christmas :)
> 
> And if anyone would like to see it and hasn't, there's the thing I made for this fic, before I really started the fic on tumblr. My username is the same.

Steve tried to avoid the scads of reporters on most days. He usually did alright, it was amazing how much a baseball cap and a pair of sunglasses could disguise a person in most places. However, they were always going to be camped out in the obvious places that Captain America was going to be found. And that was Stark Towers, where SHIELD had elected to set up their ground headquarters. Because, you know, it wasn't the most obvious place in the city. 

He used his best smile, an appreciative wave, and escaped into the building where the big burly SHIELD agents disguised as security guards were standing in the glass doors looking menacing. Once he was inside, he sighed with relief. 

"Christ." He muttered. A woman appeared out of nowhere, Maria Hill, he remembered. He had last seen her barking orders on the helicarrier, nursing a head injury. 

"Good morning Commander Rogers. I see you've navigated past your first press roadblock." 

"Not exactly my favourite morning routine, but yes." 

"Well, they're not going away just yet, you get used to them after a while. If you'll come this way, I'll give you the tour, show you your office, introduce you to a few people you'll be working with." 

She led him up to the higher floors that had been set aside for SHIELD use. The top floors, he remembered were all Stark's Research and Development, and was probably where he'd find both Stark and Dr. Banner. At least, he assumed that Dr. Banner had stayed in the city. He hadn't heard from either man since he'd gone on his tour of the country. 

The living quarters he would be getting a tour of later, his things were all still being moved over from the apartment in Brooklyn. He hadn't really wanted to give that up, but it didn't make a lot of sense to keep the place when he was going to be spending all of his time at the Tower. 

His office was spacious, if sparse. There was the usual functional office furniture, the desk was large and the chair big enough that he didn't feel like he was going to break it when he sat in it, which was actually a problem that he'd discovered with a lot of this IKEA furniture. There were few personal items, which he was okay with. He didn't have a lot of personal effects that he'd want to keep in an office. He set the framed set of Coulson's cards on the desk opposite the computer, and that was fine. 

His personal office was inside a more open office space that had a couple of cubicles set up. 

"These are your direct reports. They've been selected based on personnel profiles, if you find that any of them aren't working out, just let us know, and we'll look for someone more compatible. This is Margo Hoffsteder, Senior Intelligence Analyst, she is responsible for the intelligence reports that are reviewed for your attention." 

Margo Hoffsteder was a middle aged woman with a pleasant and professional attitude, she smiled and greeted him politely. 

"This is Chris Matthews, senior military anaylst, who will work closely with Margo on the military aspect of the files that come in."

Chris Matthews was probably only a few years older than he was, and he carried himself like a soldier. He guessed, correctly that he had military training. 

"And this is your personal assistant, Darcy Lewis. She’s new, just like you." 

Steve blinked and tried not to stare at the young woman smiling widely at him. She couldn’t be much more than twenty, and underneath the perfectly pressed blouse and coiffed hair, he had the sense of something wild and outrageous. She was extremely pretty, and her hand was soft and warm as she shook his. 

"Hi Steve." She said, then gasped and coloured. "Sorry. Captain…Commander. Shit, I knew I was going to put my foot in it. And now I’ve said shit. Twice. I’m so sorry." 

Steve found himself smiling at her. 

"It’s fine. You could have said ‘fuck’ and then we’d all be in trouble."

She laughed slightly and dropped his hand, tucking a non existant strand of hair behind her ear. 

"Thanks. I had a feeling I was going to fuck up on my first day…oh…"

Steve fought the bubble of laughter as her eyes widened and she bit down on her lip, attempting, he assumed to stop herself from saying anything else, and ended up looking at him, pained.

"If you’re ready Commander Rogers, we’ll go on with the tour." Maria Hill interjected from where she was standing to the side, doing an admirable job of not reacting to any of what’s just gone on. He nodded, and with a last smile at Darcy, followed her out, pausing in the doorway to look back. 

Darcy was looking down at her feet, pushing her hands against her cheeks and not looking at anyone else. He shook his head and left the room.

"Oh no, that is so inconvenient." He muttered. 

"What was that?" Hill asked him.

"Nothing. Where are we going next?" 

________________________

Darcy Lewis was not an idiot. She had known that getting aggressively headhunted by an ultra secret organixation was not going to lead to a picture perfect future. She tried hard not to be better about it. Hey, half her classmates were unemployed or working as unpaid interns on political campaigns in small towns in midwest USA. The other half were doing more school to be more employable, go figure.

At least she had a job that paid well. She was not agent material. She valued life, her own and those of others too much to be any use in that arena of SHIELD's inner workings. She had barely managed to survive the basic training. She came out with a killer right hook, and better aim with her taser and that was about it. So, to the admin pool she went. She'd been cycled around a few people as a PA, none of them ever seemed to be entirely happy with how she did her job. She'd been back in the general pool a week before it came down that Captain America was coming, and was going to need a PA. 

The fangirling that went on as soon as the memo hit was insane. She was probably the only one in the office who DIDN'T want the job. It was probably why she got it. 

Make no mistake. She was a living, breathing female and had a healthy appreciation for the man's ass, but she had seen the footage from New York, had heard Thor expound on the great 'humanity that all had shown that day'. It was clear that he was a lot more than a pretty face in a costume. 

When she had been handed the assignment, she researched him. The basics she could get from the SHIELD database, however she had inside sources. 

Thor had been happy to tell her all about his friend Steven. He had painted a picture of a strong leader, exemplary fighter and a good friend. Pepper Potts talked about a quiet man who enjoyed art and was good with a set of pencils. Tony Stark waxed on about a guy who'd missed out on a lot of life experiences not just because he'd been frozen for seven decades, but because of who he'd become, and the demands on that indentity. Bruce Banner talked about a man who had lost everything, all of his friends, his life, everything that he'd known, thanks to a science experiment and was struggling to rebuild it.  
They all built a puzzle of a lonely man. Not a superhero, just a man. It broke her heart a little bit. 

After all that, when she looked at a picture of him, she saw Steve Rogers, not Captain America. 

All of which led to her putting her foot in her mouth the first day that she met him. Fuck. Seriously? How to get reassigned in one easy step, by Darcy Lewis: Call your new boss by his first name on your first day, so that he thinks you're exactly the same as all the other idiots out there that want his autograph. Oh yes, and throw in some good cursing while you're at it, why not? 

"And then I said 'shit', Jane. Twice. To Captain America's face. And I threw in a 'fuck' in there just for fun. I'm so fired."

"You are not. You'd have been escorted off the premises by now." 

"You're so comforting." Darcy dropped her head onto the table and groaned. Jane ruffled her hair. 

"You'll be fine. He probably thought you were cute."

"Cute. Yes, that's it. Captain America thinks I'm cute after I word vomited all over him. Right, Jane." 

"Relax. It'll be fine. You're good at your job, and you are cute." 

"Jane. How am I going to do this? I'm used to being in jeans and a tshirt and slobbing around in the desert chasing storms. This skirt is almost torture, and these heels are murder." 

"So don't wear the heels." 

"And he's so...I don't have words to describe it. He gives Thor a run for his money in the handsome department, and he's nice. I'm going to be thinking of naughty things all the time, and get sent to special hell for it." 

Jane laughed at her.

"Special hell?"

"Yes, its reserved for child molesters, people who talk at the theatre and people who perv on Captain America." 

"Darcy, you're more capable than you think you are. Just be yourself."

"Jane, 'myself' is all 21st Century profanity laced slob." 

"Just stop worring about offending him. Pretend he's Stark. Treat him like you do me. You will be fine." 

Darcy nodded and sat up, grabbing for her purse.

"Okay. I'm going to go and make sure all my work clothes have enough buttons."

"Stop it." Jane admonished as she left the lab.


	2. 5 Weeks to Christmas Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve researches Darcy and they make through the second meeting without embarassing themselves. Much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to go right into 4 weeks, but decided there needed to be at least one 'day after' encounter. And hey, there's seven days in a week.  
> By the way, I don't have a beta, so all mistakes are mine.

One of the first things that he did was requisition the files for each person that was reporting to him. He was willing to trust Agent Hill's judgement, but he was still a details kind of guy, and he liked to know who he was working with. 

The two analysts were pretty straightforward. There were service records, recommendations, test results and weapons qualifications included for both. Both of them had been field agents at one time that had been invalided out of the field. Hoffsteder had taken a bullet to the shoulder, imparing her abilities with firearms, while Matthews had taken one to the leg, shattering a knee and much of the surrounding ligaments. He had limited use of his right leg. Hoffsteder was married with a daughter in University, Matthews was single. 

Darcy Lewis' file, by comparison, was pitifully small. Personal details were few, she was twenty four, had recently graduated from Culver University with a degree in political science, and had been recruited as a result of a classified incident. Naturally, the classified incident was not included in her file, and he'd had to pull that out of the archives. He learned then that she'd been involved in the incident in New Mexico when Thor had come to Earth the first time around. She had been interning for Dr. Foster at the time and had reacted quite ably to the situation, and she had been recruited to SHIELD to keep tabs on her. 

Her training results were not great, that was why she'd been put into the admin pool. The notes from the people that she'd been assigned to were less than flattering. It seemed that Miss Lewis had a unique way of working, and for SHIELD agents that were quite ingrained in their routines, this did not equal happy partnerships. 

The files weren't enough though. He'd only met her for three minutes, and there was just something about her that made him want to find out more about her. 

That was why, later, after he'd found his quarters and had gotten himself some dinner from the communal kitchen that Stark seemed to be quite in favour of, he went looking for Thor. 

________________________

He found his Norse friend completing a complicated series of some form of kata in the gym, and the other man invited him to join him quite eagerly. 

It was a good work out, something a little different than he was used to, and he enjoyed it. It also allowed them to talk. 

"Now, my friend, I suspect that you did not seek me out simply for the pleasure of my company." Thor said with a smile. Steve got the feeling that he already knew some of what Steve had come to talk to him about. At the very least had an idea of what was on Steve's mind. 

"You'd be right. You know Darcy, right? 

Thor's grin broadened.

"Yes, my friend. The Lady Darcy is a most valiant warrior maid. She bested me once with a mere box." 

Steve gaped at him. This was not in SHIELD's report. 

"A box?" 

"Indeed, I shared your incredulity at the time. This box contained the most ferocious lightening, and it was most effective. She was glorious." 

Steve coughed. 

"Huh. She's been assigned as my Personal Assistant. Her file doesn't have much to say. I wanted to know more about her." 

"Ah, then you have chosen the correct person to ask, Steven. When we have finished here, I shall make your introduction to my Jane. She counts the Lady Darcy as her friend and sister. She will be able to tell you much, much more than I." 

Steve wasn't sure how he felt about being introduced to Thor's super genius girlfriend, especially since it was probably going to sound like he was asking about Darcy because he was interested in her romantically...which he wasn't, of course. Except that he probably really was. 

"What can you tell me about her though? You get the measure of people pretty quickly, and they're pretty accurate." 

"I cannot tell you as much as Jane. She has known her for far longer than I. But, I have a great repect for her. When my brother sent the Destroyer to earth, she did not run, as many would have rightly done. She stayed and she assisted in the evacuation of those who could not defend themselves. She is fiercely protective of those that she counts as friends, and Jane will tell you that a better friend could not be had. And she is quite unique, I have yet to encounter another woman like her, anywhere in the Universe. I do not always understand her, but I am quite fond of her."

It showed. He spoke about her like the soldiers used to talk about their youngers sisters, all love and affection, with an undertone of exasperation. 

"But come, we shall pry Jane from her work for refreshment, and she shall tell you of Darcy." He said with a smile. 

________________________

 

Whatever Steve was expecting of Jane Foster, the tiny woman in mismatched socks currently standing in front of him waving her arms around as punctuation to her sentences was not it. 

He wasn't even sure that he knew what she was talking about. When Thor had pulled her away from her lab, she'd been in the middle of something, but he was having trouble following her now. He could see by the rapt expression on Thor's face that he had at least the basic understanding, or maybe he just didn't care, but most of it was flying over his head.

Eventually, Thor just reached out long arms and grabbed her, stilling her movements and pulling her to sit.

"Enough now, Jane. You have the answers, I know. But you must allow yourself rest and refreshment. Darcy would have expelled you from your labratory long before now, I have been remiss." He said, throwing a wink Steve's way. Subtle he was not. Jane sighed, but the smirk she turned on Steve was not anything too hard done by. Jane Foster was also not subtle. 

"Too bad you've stolen her, Steve. Well...I guess not too bad for you, obviously. Darcy's great at keeping people in line." 

"I was hoping you could tell me a little about her, actually." He said, and all too suddenly her gaze became sharp and shrewd. He had a feeling that she could see right through him. 

"Oh?" 

"Yeah, her file is...lacking details. I was wondering what you could tell me about her." 

"What, like does she like long walks on a beach at sunset? Because we've never been to the beach together." 

Behind her, Thor snorted, and Steve felt himself redden. 

"No, no. Just..what's she like as a person? An employee?" 

"Well, I'm really pissed that SHIELD's stolen her from me. She's a good person to have around to keep you on track, that's why she makes such a great personal assistant. She reads people very well, and adapts routines to fit. She has her own way of doing things though, they may seem a little unorthodox, but they always work. You know she's been floating in the admin pool a bit." 

Steve coughed.

"Yes, some of the agents she's PA'd for...weren't exactly glowing in their reviews."

"Pompous assholes. Darcy just needs the right person, and she will shine like a diamond. I think you'll get a long just fine." 

"Yeah?" 

"Sure. Thor, tell him about how Darcy was asking around about him." She grinned. 

________________________

The next morning, Steve arrived at the office to find Darcy half under her desk, obviously trying to pick something up, or connect something or other, and swearing up a storm. He couldn't help the smile that he could feel spreading across his face as he watched and listened to her uncensored. She was...colourful. 

"Goddamn son of a bitch...oh." She had pulled herself out from under her desk and noticed him standing there, and she coloured the same way she had the day before. "Not again." She muttered, and levered herself up off the floor.

"Good morning, Miss Lewis." 

"Uh, good morning, Commander. you don't have to 'Miss Lewis' me, I usually respond pretty well to Darcy. In a pinch, 'hey you' will work just as well." 

"Darcy. Then I'm Steve, because being called 'Commander' is still strange, and it'll feel elitist and wrong if I make you call me that." 

She chuckled slightly, and picked up a book off her desk.

"I have your appointments set up for today, would you like them in hard copy, or is the computer okay?" She asked, and he blinked. Most people either assumed that he either took to the computer like a duck to water, or hated the things. Being asked about it was...nice. 

"Both are fine, actually. I do alright with a computer, but I like to have something physical too."

"Okay. Both it is. This is yours then. Make sure to leave it on either of our desks so I can update it in the mornings." 

"Yes ma'am." He said, taking the book from her. He grinned at her grimace.

"Oh, god, don't call me ma'am." She shuddered dramatically. "How to feel like my mother in one easy step." 

He chuckled and headed into his office. 

"Oh...one more thing." He paused at his door and looked back at her. She was doing that movement again, the one where she tucked something behind her ear, but like yesterday her hair was pinned back away from her face, so there was nothing there to move. It must be a nervous gesture. "I just wanted to apologize. For yesterday. I know I probably came off sounding like a twit, and I just...I occasionally have a brain to mouth filter issue. Most of the time, it's pretty harmless, but...well, you were there." 

He touched her shoulder briefly, offering a reassuring smile. 

"Don't worry about it. Everyone around here is so formal all the time, it was kind of nice to be treated like a real person." 

The smile she gave him was on par with the one she'd first greeted him with. 

"Yeah? So it's okay if I talk to you like a regular human being, cuss words and all?" 

"I was a soldier, Darcy, I can guarantee that nothing you can say will shock me. And I like being treated like a human being, I don't get it so often." 

"Excellent. You are fast becoming my favourite boss ever." 

He grinned back at her.

"You haven't liked any of your others?" 

She shook her head. 

"SHIELD agents, especially the ones who've been around a while tend to be kind of set in their ways. Don't like change all that much. I'm...uh, well, I'm like a change instigator. Especially if I look at something that isn't working so well. I like to be efficient, and some of their methods...weren't. Y'know?" 

Steve couldn't fault her for that.

"Yes, actually, I do. Listen, here's what we'll do. You do things however you think best, and I won't tell you not to, unless it really doesn't work for me, and we'll figure out how to fix it together. Okay?" 

Her smile could have given sunshine a run for its money. He was not kidding, this kind of smile lit up her entire face. 

"Okay."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the comments so far! I hope part 2 is meeting expectations :)


	3. 4 Weeks To Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 4 Weeks to Christmas: Darcy is really quite good at being Captain America's PA. And she looks great in a skirt, according to Steve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone for the comments! If I have not personally answered your comment, it's not that I don't love you, it's that I got lazy.

  
Darcy Lewis was exceptionally good at being his PA, all verbal diarrhea aside.  When he arrived at his office in the morning, his daily schedule would be on his desk in the planner that she'd appropriated for him, and it would be updated in his email calendar as well.    
  
Everything that came to him from either of the analysts went through a thorough proofreading at her desk before it hit his, and he would be eternally grateful for that, because it seemed that Matthews had a thing for terrible grammar and short hand that made no sense.  She'd taken to proofreading his own reports too, she just didn't berate him for his errors like he'd heard her doing to Matthews one day last week.    
  
She brought him food during the day like clockwork, no matter where he was, and had seemed to pick up on his favourites pretty quickly.    
  
She was also equal parts pleasant and unhelpful on the phone, which was apparenly key to being the point of contact for Captain America.  He had overheard her one day, giving a reporter the run around, and it was like listening to verbal magic.  And also quite hilarious, because he was pretty sure that she talked the reporter into agreeing that he didn't actually need an interview with Captain America, and he should instead be calling Stark's office, a fact that made Steve incredibly happy.    
  
Not that it meant that any of what he was trying to ignore go away, of course.    
  
He had found, quite by accident, that he could usually see her legs from his chair at his desk.  Her desk was partitioned away from the other two desks in their little office space, but it was open to the windows of his personal office, meaning that he saw her as she came and went, and he often found himself spending a lot of time watching her legs.    
  
It had, of course, occured to him in the days that they'd been working together that this was probably not great for productivity, but it was a great view.  She tended to wear skirts alot. And when she didn't wear skirts, she wore excellent shoes.    
  
Today, it just happened that he was stuck in a meeting with Fury, Stark, Barton and a slew of 'analysts' who'd been looking into a weapons smuggling ring that was smuggling guns with a bit more kick to them, being outfitted with tech that made them far more dangerous than M15s.    
  
"A well placed undercover op has a good chance of infiltrating their hierarchy."  One of the analysts was saying.  Steve shook his head.    
  
"We don't have enough intel for that yet.  If we send someone in now, they're be in way over their heads and I'm not going to send anyone to their deaths."    
  
Barton was agreeing with him, nodding his head.   
  
"I could drop in on them.  Friendly reminder that they're being watched."  Stark said unhelpfully.  Fury's glare was enough of a comment on that particular gem.      
  
There was silence for a while, while everyone considered the assembled file.    
  
Steve sat back in his seat and ran his hands over his face.  
  
"Alright, who do you have to screw to get a cup of coffee around here?"  He muttered, to collective laughter.    
  
Of course, because the universe apparently hates him, the door opened in the next moment and Darcy backed her way into the room pulling along a wheeled tray loaded with coffee and muffins.    
    
Today she was wearing what he'd decided was his favourite of her skirts.  It was a form fitting pencil skirt that stretched attractively across her hips and bottom.  However, he hadn't seen her bend over in it, and the sight of her doing just that as she wrestled with a second canteen of coffee was appealing in a way that he hadn't felt in a long time.  She straightened and sent him a smile that did even more than the skirt did, and he was acutely aware that both Stark and Barton were looking sidelong at him with matching grins.   
  
"Right."  He said, and he went back to the file, trying not to watch the way her hips swayed in the skirt as she moved around the room.  
  
________________________  
  
  
When the meeting finally broke up an hour later, Stark followed him back to his office, and appraised Darcy further from his guest chair, where he had a better view of her working at her desk.  
  
"There's perks to being 'Commander Rogers', then?"  He said with a grin.  Steve glared at him.  "She's a looker for sure, if I were twenty years younger...no scratch that, I'd still go for it, I weren't already infatuated with my former PA."    
  
"Tony.  Stop ogling my assistant."    
  
"What can you see from your seat?  Not much I imagine.  You should move your desk to this side of the room...oh, she's stretching!"  
  
"Tony!"  
  
"What?  I'm spoken for, not dead."   
  
"Can you just...not.  She works for me, I'd rather you didn't objectify her.  I thought Pepper made you take a sexual harassment seminar?  I had to sit through one."    
  
The lecherous Tony face was replaced with a serious Tony face after a moment as he considered him.    
  
"I know you're a pretty spectacular specimen of the human species Cap, but you are still human.  I've seen Lewis' file.  She's whip smart and a total firecracker.  Don't think I don't know that she's rerouting all the reporters to my office.  And she tased Thor, didn't she?  He's got plenty of things to say about that.  That she's also got curves that would make Garbo jealous is purely good luck.  And I know about Peggy Carter, Cap.  My father had a great deal of respect for her.  Looks like Lewis is cut from the same cloth.  You should go for it, ask her out." 

  
"She's one of my direct reports, Tony.  I think there's rules about that kind of thing in most workplaces."  
  
"Yes, but this isn't most workplaces.  What if she didn't report to you?  What if you'd just met her at a bar or a club or something?"   
  
"Leaving aside the fact that I hate clubs and don't go to bars?  I don't know.  What would a girl like her want with a guy like me?"   
  
Tony stared at him.  
  
"You are kidding me, right?  Steve, the entire female population of the United States would club each other over the head to go for coffee with you.  With this particular female, you have have the opportunity for her to get to know you.  She already knows more than I think you realize, and you've had her for what?  A week?"    
  
"I have not 'had' her, Tony.  And how do you figure?"  
  
"Were you paying attention to anything besides her ass when she came into that meeting?  She had a giant cup of coffee with cream and I assume a half carton of sugar sitting there for you.  She also had a raspberry muffin set aside, just for you.  Those of us whose names were not Steven Rogers had to actually tell her what we wanted.  And believe me, none of our muffins looked anything like the one she gave you."    
  
Steve frowned, thinking about that.  Tony was smirking at him again.  
  
"Think about it, Steve.  You're getting a second chance at a life here.  I'd hate to see you waste it."  
  
________________________  
  
  
Steve was mulling over the weapons ring a day or two later when Darcy came in halfway through the afternoon with tea and a plate of chocolate chip cookies, his favourites.    
  
"This is the latest report on that arms trafficking thing in the UK.  Matthews will learn how to write in proper English, or I will learn how to do magic and turn him into a toad."  She grumbled as she started setting everything on his desk.  "There's not much new in the way of intel, but I think Hoffsteder is working on something that may get  you guys a little further.  And if I'm not actually supposed to absorb any of this, just tell me."   
  
"I think you're fine.  I'm pretty sure they've given you at least level 7 clearance, since you're working for me, and according to Stark, I rate at least level 7."    
  
She giggled at him, and set the plate of cookies down last.  
  
"These are for you, you seem like you're not having such a great week."  
  
"It's that obvious?"   
  
"Every time Stark calls, you get this slight...tick...in your eye.  It's very slight, and I'm pretty sure all your supersoldieryness takes care of it super quick, but he's been calling a lot, so..."    
  
Steve laughed at her visual of this 'tick' and she smiled back.  He focused on the plate of cookies and noticed, finally, that they weren't the usual cookies from the servery.    
  
"Are these...homemade?"    
  
She coloured slightly, but she nodded.    
  
"Yeah.  Well, you never finish the packages of the canteen cookies, which I totally don't blame you, as store bought go they're kind of...bleah."  She wiggled her hand in a vague way.  "You like chocolate chip, and I like to bake, so..."    
  
Steve was trying to wrap his head around the fact that she had *baked* for him.   The last person who'd baked anything for him had been his mother.  And that was... a tremendously long time ago.    
  
"I...thank you.  They look amazing."    
  
"You're welcome, and not to be self promoting, except that yes I do, chocolate chip cookies are my best cookies, so they are in fact, quite amazing."  She winked at him and continued. "I'm working on the write up for that thing that went down in South Africa, you'll have it in probably an hour, as long as I can decipher Matthews' scribbling."  She turned to go, and Steve found himself stopping her.    
  
"Wait.  Um...have a cookie with me, talk a bit.  You know a lot about me, but I don't know all that much about you."    
  
She smiled bemusedly at him.   
  
"There's not much to tell.   I was a political science major at Culver.  Took an internship with Jane Foster to get my science credits so I could graduate, and ended up getting conscripted to SHIELD thanks to a bizarre series of events involving Thor and a giant Robot of Doom.  But I imagine that's all stuff that you've already pulled out of the files."  She winked at him.      
  
Steve grinned.  
  
"Guilty.  Do you live here in the Tower?"  A lot of SHIELD personnel did, at least until the helicarriers were back in action.  She snorted, and then tried to make it look like she hadn't.  That was a funnier expression.   
  
"Hell no.  I may not get much of a choice about where I work, but I do still get to choose where I spend my free time.  And no offense, because I know -you- live here, I try to separate my work from home.  The paycheck isn't quite enough to afford a place of my own within commuting distance to the Tower, at least not yet, but I have a cousin with a brownstone on Harris street, though she lives in the dodgy end."  
  
"And you live there with...a boyfriend?  Three illegitimate but charming children?"  He asked with a grin, trying to show that he was joking and not seriously trying to poke into her private life.  She laughed again, and he decided then and there that he liked making her laugh.    
  
"No, it's just me.  It would be a little weird living with my cousin with a boyfriend, though it's not like she'd sit there and judge me.  The last boyfriend I had was...god, well before I went to Jane.  We broke up, in case you didn't guess."    
  
"Ah.  Should I be sorry?"   
  
"Nah.  I am much better off, believe me.  He used to call me fat."   
  
Steve blinked and couldn't help eye her up and down.    
  
"Excuse me?"   
  
She nodded.    
  
"Used to tell me no one else was going to want a chick with thighs the size of tree trunks.  Not actually much of a nice guy, really.  I'm not really sure what I had been smoking that led me to hooking up with him in the first place.  The only thing I was every able to come up with was that I had been slipped an experimental mind altering drug with truly long term side effects."    
  
Steve was sure that he was gaping at her, and he tried to fix his face into something more non-chalant, with little success.    
  
"Right.  Well, you know, I could order a strike team out and have him murdered.  Barton could probably get him with one good arrow."    
  
She laughed again, a full rich laugh that had her tilting her head back, and was going to make him think about her neck for a week.    
  
"Thanks.  I did tase him for the hell of it, but I'll think about it."    
  
"Do.  Barton's been complaining that he's bored, and he's just a phone call away.  Or an air vent, I'm not really sure."  He looked up pointedly, the archer was prone to hanging out in the weirdest places.  He'd found him on top of Stark's massive refrigerator one night.  His only explanation was that it was a good vantage point.      
  
She let herself out of the office, smiling at him over her shoulder as she went.    
  
If Steve was that type of person, he'd bang his head on his desk.  Instead, he turned to look at an assortment of pictures of influential US political figures that someone had put up on the wall with a sigh, his eyes finding Eleanor Roosevelt.   
  
"Did you have this problem?   Of course you did.  At least you were married."    
  
________________________  
  
  
Being Captain America's personal assistant was not all that it may sound like, Darcy learned pretty quickly.    
  
It is a delicate balance of public appearances, press releases and SHIELD business.  If he has any personal time left over, she counts that as a win.  There are some days when managing his schedule is a little like dancing with an invisible man: lose your grip, and you don't know where he is.    
  
That said, it didn't take very long to get used to how he operates.  True to his word, he let her do things her way, and he had yet to call her on anything that she did.  He doesn't like a big show, if you have something to say, you say it and don't waste time.   She'd started incorporating that attitude when dealing with third parties.  Particularly reporters.    
  
It was apparently ridiculously easy to get Captain America's office number.  It is ridiculously difficult to get past his assistant, at least, this is a fact that she hopes has been communicated to all reporters in the New York area.  She is proud of this fact.  She's only been doing this job a week, and she's already convinced three reporters that they should be calling up Stark, because lord knows, that man lives for that shit.  And Steve absolutely does not.    
  
And it did not take long to pick up that the man likes his sweets, however, she learned by way of unfinished packets of cookies on his desk that he wasn't overly fond of mass produced sweets.  It made a certain sense when she thought about it.  He came from an era that didn't have most of the stuff on store shelves these days, and from what else she'd learned about his history, he wouldn't have wasted money on them anyway.   So she got her baker on, and started bringing him treats from home.  Her cousin had a great kitchen, and not a lot of time for baking, so Mary and the kids loved it, it meant that there were always awesome cookies to be had.  But it also meant that he finished his snacks, and she had felt a tremendous sense of accomplishment at that.    
  
Not that she'd ever really meant for him to actually notice.    
  
She didn't word vomit all over him this time, she still felt a little weird, having now told her boss all about her asshole ex boyfriend, but it was more his reaction to it that was sticking with her and freaking her out just a little bit.  And so, for the second time in two weeks, she had her head down on Jane's lab table, moaning about it.  Now she knew what a broken record felt like.     
  
"Darcy...I really think you're overreacting.  So he asked about you, there are some things that files can't tell a person you know."    
  
"Yeah, but you didn't see his face when I told him about my asshole ex boyfriend.  He did that thing, you know, where guys start at your toes and eyeball you all the way up, taking in every single detail about you?  Jane, the man's face should be illegal, no one should be allowed to look that sexy doing that.  And he meant it.  He didn't find a single fault when he looked at me like, or else whatever he saw he didn't care about, how am I supposed to work for him now?"   
  
"Darcy, it's okay to find him attractive.  It's also okay for him to find you attractive.  It might actually be good for both of you."    
  
Darcy raised her head and eyed her over the top of her glasses.   
  
"Explain to me, please, how my boss and I finding each other mutually attractive can be good for both of us?"      
       
Jane rolled her eyes.  
  
"Well, aside from the obvious; hold this please..."  She handed Darcy a peice of electronic equipment and she took it mindlessly, and Jane continued to work on it with a miniature screwdriver.  "You're kind of similar you know?  You both have this tendency to downplay how great you are, like being able to save the world is no big thing.  And you both do things because they're the right things to do, not because there's something in it for you.  Well, you may have started out that way..."  Darcy swatted her.  "But you've grown up a lot since I've met you.  Did you know that Thor brought him up last week to ask me about you?"   
  
"He what?"  
  
"Yep.  Same as how you were asking around about what he was like, he wanted to know about you."   
  
"Jane, I wanted to know so I didn't make a fool of myself, and ended up doing it anyway."    
  
"I don't think you did.  And he was looking for information after he'd met you.  You caught his interest.  He was so cute, playing all coy about it, trying to make it sound like he was just asking about you as an employee."   
  
"Stop it.  Look, let's be real about this.  First off, he's my BOSS Jane!  I'm pretty sure there are rules about that kind of thing, not that I read all of SHIELD's rules, because I'd really love to actually break one, but he would know all the rules for sure.  And besides..."  
  
Jane raised an eyebrow at her.  
  
"Besides what?"    
  
"What would a guy like him want with someone like me anyway?"    
  
Jane threw a pencil at her.   
  
"Darcy Lewis, what did I just get finished telling you?  You are a completely wonderful person.  Thor has been advocating your qualities to his friends in Asgaard."   
  
"Seriously?  That's...really weird, can you make him stop?"   
  
"Unlikely, but I'll ask.  The point is, you really are a smart woman, a great friend and like Thor likes to say, a valiant warrior.  There is not a man in this world that shouldn't want you.  You also have a great rack."    
  
Darcy made a face at her.    
  
"Well, you do, I'm just saying.  But listen, seriously.  I didn't think I'd ever get the handsome prince.  I wasn't a fairy tales kind of girl, ever.  I had a telescope, not Disney dolls.  I sort of figured I'd end up with another Donald Blake, just... a less douchy one.  But...these things can really happen to real women like us, Darcy.  I think Steve Rogers would be very good for you, and I think you'd be really good for him."    
  
Darcy smiled, and grabbed Jane up for a hug.  
  
"Thank you, that means a lot to me."  She let her go and shook her head.  "It's a nice dream, and it came true for you, so that's really awesome.  But I'm his PA.  It's not going to happen."    
  
Jane shook her head at her with a sigh and a smile.    
  
"We'll see about that."     

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am not American. I have no idea how influential Eleanor Roosevelt really was, just that I've seen some very nice quotes attributed to her, she seemed a better choice to decorate Captain America's office than others, and I needed a Thatcher substitute. I did not, if you'll notice, call her a saucy minx.


	4. 3 Weeks to Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 3 weeks to Christmas, there's a mission. It does not end altogether that well. Fortunately Steve has a Darcy to help him out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This, dear friends, is where there are absolutely no elements of Love Actually at all, as Steve's actual role rears its head. This chapter totally kicked my ass, because writing it into my notebook and getting time to type the bastard out were two different kettles of fish. And I even cut a scene that'll end up kick starting the next chapter, because A. I am lazy tonight, and B. I decided I liked where I did end it better. But enjoy!

When Steve came into work on December 2nd, he found Darcy's stocking clad legs sticking out from under a large tree, accompanied by her usual litany of curse words as she fought with something underneath.    
  
He paused a moment to watch her legs kicking around, especially considering that her skirt was inching farther up her thighs with every movement.  He felt a bit like he was being a lecherous old bastard, like Tony.    
  
"Isn't Christmas almost a month away?"  he asked her, laughing as she squeaked from under the tree, legs flailing.  
  
"Steve, I swear to Thor, I am going to put a bell on you so I know when to put a muzzle on my mouth."    
  
"But then you'll spoil all my fun."    
  
"Har dee har har."    
  
She extracated herself from under the tree and brushed herself off, though Steve would have been hard pressed to locate a spec of dust on her.    
  
"A Christmas tree?  Seems a bit early?"    
  
"There are those who would argue it's not early enough.  However, it is December, and this was in our storage room.  Ergo, it's going up in this office, and I am going to decorate it.  It may take me all week, but I will accomplish it."    
  
Steve chuckled and steadied her while she stepped into her shoes again.    
  
"I have no doubt."    
  
"You want your daily rundown now?"  She asked, moving to her desk.    
  
"Sure."  
  
"Right, well today's a bit busy, you've got defensive training with the baby agents at nine thirty, and then Fury wants a meeting at eleven, just a heads up, it has something to do with that supersized weapons thing over in the UK, so Barton's going to be there, but Stark has noticeably not been invited to this one.  All the latest reports and the colesnotes of Matthews' stuff are on your tablet.  I keep getting calls from this one pushy reporter at this gossip rag, she wants an interview and won't take the bait to go bug Tony."  
  
"Schedule some time after Christmas, and see if you can time it with Tony."  
  
"His new assistant is a darling with his schedule, I think that is definitely doable."  
  
"Excellent."    
  
She winked at him and he skirted around into his office, leaning briefly against the outside of his desk to watch her start decorating the tree.  He made himself stop looking when the stretch of her arm strained at the buttons of her blouse.  Dear Lord, he wasn't going to make it if she kept doing things like that, and he thought somehow that asking her dress in burlap sacks wouldn't go over very well.  
  
________________________  
  
"The latest intel your analyst dug up is good, Rogers.  We have neough that we can send in a small team for some recon.  I wasn you and Barton to take a team of five in, Sitwell will handle the ground logistics, and Hill will monitor from here.:  
  
"Sir, are you sure that's a wise decision?  Hoffsteder's latest report had good information, but I'm not sure that I'm comfortable starting an op on it."    
  
"That's why it's a small recon team Captain.  I don't expect you to go in and take them down.  I just want better eyes on what they've got going on."  
  
Steve nodded, he didn't like it, but it was a logical move.    
  
"I'll have Darcy clear my schedule."    
  
"Do that.  How's that one working out for you, Captain?"  
  
Steve blinked.  
  
"Sir?"  
  
"The Lewis girl.  Had a couple of agents come complaining about her a month or so back.  Didn't like her style or some such nonsense."    
  
Steve bristled on Darcy's behalf.  
  
"Miss Lewis is a very capable administrative assistant, sir.  I have yet to have a problem with her, or her 'style'.  With all due respect to these other agents, they must not have been challenging her enough."  
  
"Hm.  Still, if she becomes a problem...."  
  
"She won't."  
  
"Alright then.  Wheels up at thirteen hundred."    
  
Steve left the room feeling a little unsettled.    
  
________________________  
  
"A mission?  Now?"  Darcy could hear the worried tone in her voice, but couldn't manage to get it under control.    
  
"It's that weapons thing in the UK.  Fury wants a recon on it."    
  
"That sounds remarkably reckless."    
  
"I don't like it, but there is logic to it.  We do need more information before we try to take out their operation."    
  
Darcy sighed and frowned at her computer screen.  
  
"I'll rebook all your external appointments.  You're going to miss the orphanage thing."    
  
"Shit."  Steve cursed and flipped through his book.  "That's tonight, I'd forgotten."    
  
Darcy thought quickly.  
  
"Thor's not going, is he?"    
  
"No, it's not an Avenger's call out.  It's me and Barton and three other agents."  
  
"I can send Thor.  He loves kids.  I know there's a reason you were going, but Thor's the best second choice if you can't make it.  I can also probably rustle up Stark without too much trouble."  
  
Steve nodded.  He didn't look happy, and she didn't blame him.  The orphanage that he'd spent his formative years in no longer existed, not in a shape that was recognizable.  It had been absorbed by state programs and the building itself was gone.  But Steve had wanted to support whatever remained, and was set to suit up for a children's Christmas party that night.  It meant a lot to him.  But there was a solution.  
  
"I'll reach out to the program advisors, I will bet my ipod that they will be happy to have you come and pay a special visit.  It'd probably make some kid's year."  She offered.  He smiled, and touched her arm breifly.    
  
"That'd be great.  Make sure you give them my apologies."    
  
"Of course."  
  
"Okay, I've got to go and brief these agents, and we're lifting off at one."    
  
"Go.  You know I've got this under control.  Just..."  she paused, and he turned back, an eyebrow raised quizzically.  
  
"I know it's a stupid thing to ask but take care of yourself?"    
  
He looked down at his feet a moment, then looked back at her, and the look in his eyes made something in her heart flutter a little bit, despite ruthlessly tamping down on it.    
  
"I will, Darcy.  I promise."    
  
She nodded once, and he left the office.  She stared at her screen another moment, then pulled her phone out of her purse and texted Barton:  
  
     - If u idiots don't come home in one piece, I will tattle to Natasha and cut off all access to the ventilation system.-  
  
Then she got on with clearing Steve's schedule.  A moment later her phone beeped at her.    
  
    -Roger, Lewis.  I'll keep an eye on him for you.-  
  
She didn't bother to protest.    
  
________________________  
  
Before she really knew what had happened, it was Friday.  Steve had been on the mission with Barton all week, and she was running out of work to do.  Hoffsteder and Matthews were still working the mission of course, so she'd have a daily intel report that needed to be done, but she'd send it to Hill for distribution.  Beyond that, it was mostly setting up his calendar for after he got back.  Which was tricky to do when she didn't know when he was coming back, but not impossible.    
  
She found herself in Jane's lab a lot, picking up some of her old work, since Jane was breaking in a new intern.  Again.  So far this one had lasted three days, which was a day longer than the last few.  It gave them more time for girl talk at least.  
  
"I just don't understand what so tough about this.  Donald learned after the first time he did it."  Jane was grumbling.  Darcy grinned and spun around in the chair, while Jane tinkered with one of her gadgets.    
  
"First off, Donald was born and raised on Earth and was therefore exposed to the intricacies of a bathroom from an early age.  Thor, on the other hand, comes from another planet.  You were there, you had to have seen their bathrooms."  
  
Jane sent her a look across the table.  
  
"Darcy, it was Asgaard."    
  
"So, what?  Did you hold it the entire time? You were there for at least two days."  
  
"Darcy!"  
  
"What?  Dish on the johns in Asgaard.  They can't have been like Star Trek, with no toilets ever visible anywhere?  C'mon!"    
  
"They were...very elegant."    
  
"Oh, don't stop with the detail, Jane, I can't get enough."  Darcy said with a roll of her eyes.    
  
"Shut up.  Yes, Asgaard has bathrooms, and they're largely the same as ours.  Just...the uh...plumbing is set up a bit different."    
  
"Different how?"  
  
"Please don't ask me to explain it.  Suffice it to say, they don't have toilet seats.  I don't know how many times I've had to tell him to put it back down.  Open toilets are like, dangerous at 4 am."  
  
"Yeah, especially for you and your skinny butt."  
  
Jane threw her screwdriver at her and sat back on her stool.  
  
"It's just funny, you know?  I am living with a man who is literally the stuff of myths and legends, and I have the same issues as every other woman in the world."    
  
"Except for lesbians."    
  
"Good point."    
  
"Well, the only thing I can tell you, since I am not burdened with this particular problem, is to just keep reminding him to put the thing down, and remember to check before you sit."    
  
"Thanks, you're a huge help."  Darcy shrugged and tossed the screwdriver back across the table.  Jane shook her head.  
  
"I think I've done all I can with this right now.  Hey, intern!  What's happening to that data?"  She shouted over her shoulder to the white coated lab guy that Stark had hired for her this week.  He was smart, at least, just generally useless as fuck.    
  
"Just about finished Doctor Foster."  He called back from where he was sitting.  Jane rolled her eyes.    
  
"He's so slow.  But I'm breaking him in."  
  
"Or just breaking him."    
  
Jane came around the table and slung her arm across her shoulders.  
  
"They can't all be you.  I've kept this one past two days, and he hasn't had a break down yet.  There's hope."    
  
Darcy grinned and returned the embrace with an arm around her waist.  
  
"You are a cruel woman, Jane Foster."    
  
"I know."  
  
 _"I beg your pardon, Miss Lewis?"_  
  
"Yes Jarvis?"  
  
 _"Agent Hill has been calling your office looking for you.  As it seems important I thought I would alert you."_  
  
"Can you pipe her in here JARVIS?"  
  
 _"Yes Miss."_  
  
There was a blip, and Darcy assumed she was connected to Agent Hill.  
  
"Yes Agent Hill, what can I do for you?"    
  
 _"Hello Miss Lewis.  We've had communication from Commander Rogers' team.  I need you to bring all of the information you have and come up to Operations."_  
  
Darcy felt something cold settle in the pit of her stomach and she swallowed with difficulty.  
  
"What's happening?"  
  
 _"There's a third party involved, making trouble.  I need to be able to give the Captain the most updated information.  You would have everything that may have been left out of reports."_  
  
"Agent Hill...nothing pertinent is ever left out of the reports."  
   
 _"It may not be pertinent.  Just something that didn't make sense at the time.  Please, Miss Lewis.  Hoffsteder and Matthews have clocked out and haven't answered pages yet.  You're his P.A.  You know everything."_  
  
Darcy raised her eyebrows, and reached for her laptop.  
  
"Okay, I'll be right there."    
  
 _"Thank you, I'll have you cleared for access."_  
  
Jane patted her shoulder.  
  
"I'll be at our place later, if you need me."  She said.    
  
________________________  
  
Operations was not what Darcy had expected.  
  
She'd been thinking of shiny walls and computer displays and a giant viewscreen like the bridge of the Enterprise.  And maybe that was what it had looked like on the helicarrier, she didn't know.  But Ops in the Tower was a big room with grey walls and cubicles like hers.  It was kind of disappointing, on a nerd level.    
  
Agent Hill was walking up and down the spaces between the cubicles looking badass in the kind of catsuit Darcy would love to wear if it wasn't for fear of the girls popping out.  There seemed to be a low buzz of activity in one corner of the room, and that was where Hill stopped, and where she beckoned Darcy.    
  
"You can plug in here."  She indicated a space next to one of the other agents.  "Commander Rogers reported in activity as normal as of fourteen hundred.  Agent Barton reported sighting an unidentified third party on the scene fifteen minutes ago."  
  
"Unidentified like a buyer, or unidentified like a bystander?"    
  
"Unknown, though the way that the guy waltzed in there, it doesn't look innocent.  He's got them all on edge, it's a fucking powderkeg.  You overviewed all of Hoffsteder's and Matthews intel, were there any interested parties or other agencies that had flagged this for action?"    
  
Darcy shook her head.  
  
"Interpol had feelers, but were nowhere near close enough to try a full on investigation."  
  
Darcy pulled up all of her reports and all of the intel from Hoffsteder and Matthews that she had on her computer, their original reports, skimming through, even though she knew it all already.    
  
"There weren't any indicators that another agency had flagged this, there was no chatter, but if Interpol had information, then any agency could pull it, unofficially.  Hoffsteder hasn't identified any potential buyers as yet, not in the UK, most of the interest was coming out of current conflict zones, North Korea, Iraq, Afganistan.  These ends are already being investigated by SHIELD location offices."  
  
Hill nodded, arms crossed over her chest.    
  
"Report says that this guy is American."  
  
Darcy rolled her eyes.    
  
"That doesn't exactly narrow the field, agency or buyer wise."    
  
Hill nodded again.  
  
"I know.  Here, you can also plug into Agent Nelson's com link."  Hill handed her a headset and moved away to examine data on another agent's screen.  Darcy slipped the headset over her ear and winced at the cacaphony of noises that immediately sounded in her ear.    
  
"Jesus..." she muttered to herself, and started trying to pick out voices.  
  
 _"Barton, can you get a bead on any of the key players?"_   Steve's voice was the first she was able to identify.  
  
 _"Negative.  Whoever this jackass is, he's got them real shook up.  Nobody's staying still."_  
  
 _"Norton, any luck identifying him yet?"_  
  
 _"No, sir, I keep running into security firewalls."_  
  
 _"That means he's some kind of government agent."_ Barton supplied.    
  
 _"Captain, Agent Hill is reporting that aside from an Interpol file that has not been actioned, no agency has an open file on this group."_ Sitwell's voice was calm.  
  
 _"So, he's a rogue agent?"_ Darcy didn't recognoze this voice, she assumed it was one of the other agents.  
  
 _"He could be.  We don't know until we know his name.  Norton, try to get a good shot of his face."_    
  
There was the muffled sound of shouting voices and gunfire.  
  
 _"Holy shit!  everythings going crazy in there, Cap.  We've got to do something before we lose all our evidence."_  
  
 _"Roger that.  Non lethal take down.  We want to know where they're getting their tech from.  Fletcher, see if you can get our uninvited guest out of there."_  
  
 _"He seems to be holding his own, Cap."_   Barton interjected.  
  
 _"Doesn't matter, we don't know who he is, or what training he has, and until we do, he's just a civilian in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Get him out.  Madsen, you and I are going around the front."_  
  
There was breathing, and the twang of Barton's arrows over the comm, over the sound of the ongoing gunfire that kept erupting over and over again.  After a few minutes, Darcy heard a metallic clang and a crash.    
  
"Their vehicle is disabled," Steve said, "we'll need a clean up team out here Sitwell."  
  
 _"Enroute.  ITA is about fifteen minutes, including a medical team."_  
  
 _"Good, a few of these guys are going to --"_  
  
Steve was cut off by the sound of an explosion, so loud that Darcy almost fell off her chair.  The agent next to her steadied her with a concerned look.  She smiled at him gratefully.  
  
 _"What the hell!"_   A voice that she identified as Norton shouted.    
  
 _"Barton!  Do you copy!"_   Steve barked.      
  
There was a horrible silence for a full minuted, in which Darcy did not breathe, before Barton's comm crackled.  
  
 _"I copy,"_ he gasped.  _"Medics are enroute, yeah?  Because I'm pretty sure I blew that landing."_  
  
 _"You injured?"_  
  
 _"Something's broken...leg, ankle maybe.  Can't tell."_  
  
 _"Stay put.  Norton, get him out of there.  Fletcher, what happened, did you see anything?"_  
  
Fletcher's voice was low.  
  
 _"Looked like a souped up rocket launcher, hell of a lot bigger than anything we were briefed on at HQ.  Not sure exactly who fired it."_  
  
 _"Are you inside the building?"_  
  
 _"Yes sir, I'm just about - drop it!"_ Fletcher's voice became sharp, an order, and Darcy tensed.  There was muffled shouting.  
  
 _"Under the international authority of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division you are ordered to surrender your weapons immeidately."_  
  
More shouting, and then Darcy grimaced at the sharp sound of the gunfire that followed.  But if was the resulting silence that was almost painful.  
  
 _"Fletcher, do you copy?"_ Steve's voice was strained, and there was no answer.  She heard Barton curse and Sitwell advising that the crew's ETA was ten minutes out, too long to help Fletcher. Steve's voice caught her attention.  
  
 _"Norton, when you've secured Barton get around to the back of the building.  Madsen you're meeting him there."_  
  
 _"Sir, the front?"_  
  
 _"I'm covering the front.  No one's going to get by.  Hold positions and no one goes in, no one comes out.  We only need to hold for ten minutes."_  
  
Steve's voice was leaden, and Darcy felt for him.  She wanted more than anything to talk to him, to tell him that it was going to be okay, but the comm link wasn't two way.  She could only listen as shit hit the fan again.  Blasts were going off left and right in the distance, and there was the sound of heavy things landing all around the open lines.    
  
 _"What in the fuck is that!"_  
  
 _"Holy shit!"_  
  
 _"Jesus Christ, Norton, Madsen, take cover!"_  
  
There was an enormous explosion and Darcy had to take the headset off, she flung herself back against her chair nearly sending it off balance.  She covered her hace withher hands and then tried to get her breathing under control.  It was a moment before she realized that Nelson was snapping his fingers at her.  She focused on him and he pointed to her headset, mouthing 'they're okay' at her.  She jammed the thing back on her head.    
  
 _"What about you Cap?"_ She heard Barton ask.  There was a grunt, the sound of twisting metal and then she blew a relieved sigh when Steve answered.    
  
 _"I'll be alright.  What was that?"_  
  
 _"Looked like a mecha to me."_  
  
 _"A what?"_  
  
 _"Erm...remind me to have Lewis show you some anime when we get back stateside, but basically mecha are human piloted robots."_  
  
 _"Human piloted robot.  That's just what we need.  Sitwell, we're going to need more than a clean up crew out here, we've got a --"_   Steve paused for the word again.  
   
 _"Mecha"_   Barton cut in.   
  
 _"-- mecha headed for the city limits.  Someone's going to have to take it down."_  
  
 _"I'm scrambling air support."_ Sitwell's voice was still calm, cool as a cucumber, as though nothing had happened.  It made her want to smack him.    
  
 _"Now...where in the hell did they get that from?"_  
  
________________________  
  
  
It was late before they got back to the Tower.  Clean up had been remarkably fast, and the air team had taken down the 'mecha' as Barton had called it, a few miles from the city limits.  The pilot was being worked on in medical, along with the rest of Steve's team.  Steve found himself back in his office some time after he saw them to medical.    
  
Natasha had been waiting at the entrance, one eyebrow raised as Barton was wheeled in on a stretcher, leg already immobilized.    
  
"I think I'm ahead of you now, Nat."  The man had muttered with a pained smile.  She'd rolled her eyes.  
  
"It's ridiculous that you're keeping score, idiot."  But she'd taken his hand as he passed and went in with him.  The others were already inside.  He didn't look at the black body bag as he passed it on his way out, and he felt guilty about it.  He'd have to send his personal condolences to Fletcher's family, if he had any.  This was one of the parts about being the leader that he disliked immensely.    
  
What bothered him the most was the way that everyone was just going about their business, as if one of their own hadn't died, wasn't lying in a black bag on a stretcher in the hallway.  Like this was something that  happened everyday.  He knew what that felt like, but that had been a war.  This had just been senseless.  Maybe senseless was something that happened everyday for these people.  It was a wholly depressing thought.  
  
Something made a soft noise behind him and he turned, defensive stance automatic, shield poised to throw.    
  
Darcy held up her hands, and stopped just inside the door.  He relaxed, dropping the shield like it was a hot coal, very aware of the damage he might have done.    
  
"Darcy?  What are you doing here?  It's late..."    
  
"I know.  And I know that technically I'm not supposed to know what happened out there but...well, Maria Hill called me up to Ops.  I heard everything.  I thought I'd make sure you were okay."    
  
"I'm fine."  He said automatically, turning away from her.    
  
"You don't look fine, Steve.  And you're not acting fine.  I shouldn't have been able to sneak up on you like that."    
  
He frowned, not entirely understanding what she meant.    
  
"You always know when someone's behind you.  Most of the time, you're already holding a conversation with me by the time I get this close."    
  
Ah.  The heightened senses.  She was right, he usually could identify someone just based on the sounds of their shoes.  Darcy's shoes always clacked on the tile in the hallways, and their muffled thump in their office was sharper than Matthew's and Hoffsteder's.  He looked at her feet.  She was wearing a pair of running shoes that had seen better days, with a pair of faded jeans that matched.  This was the most casual he'd ever seen her.  But then, it was practically Saturday.  
  
"It's the shoes."   He said.  "I can always tell by your shoes.  You're wearing runners now."    
  
She smiled and came further into the room    
  
"I still should have set off your proximity alert the moment I walked into the outer office."    
  
He heaved a sigh and sank into his chair.    
  
"A man died out there today."  
  
"People die everyday, Steve."    
  
"Not while they're carrying out my orders."    
  
"That is a fair point.  But, don't forget, everyone in this building signed on for this knowing that it was a possibility.  Even you know that you could run into a situation that you may not walk out of."    
  
He raised an eyebrow at her, but she wasn't looking at him.  She was staring out the window, and she just looked incredibly sad.    
  
"Even you need to breathe, Steve.  You can't actually stop bullets, just heal from their wounds much faster than us regular people.  One catches your lungs, or your heart... or there's fire, or getting trapped underwater...you can't hold your breath indefinitely."  She blinked, then swiped at her eyes as she turned from the window and offered him a bleary smile.    
  
"All I'm saying is that SHIELD is a high risk work environment.  The possibility of not coming home is one that every field agent has to face and accept.  What happened out there today was not your fault."  
  
He understood what she was saying, he did.  Intellectually anyway.  There was a reason they all completed extensive agreements and had insurance policies.  But it didn't make him feel much better.  Darcy bit her lip and seemed to come to some kind of descision.  She came around his desk and stood in front of him, holding out her hand.  
  
"C'mon.  I know exactly what you need."  He looked at her blankly.  
  
"I...we need to figure out what was going on, the report.."    
  
"It can wait."  
  
"Fury..."  
  
"Can kiss my ass.  I am your personal assistant, Steve, and right now, I am assisting your person; so get up, soldier."  She commanded, tugging on his arm.  
  
He rose, a smile forming on his face despite himself, and he let her pull him out of the offices and to the elevator.  
  
He didn't bother to ask her how she knew what floor his suite was on, just followed her as she pulled him through his door, but he was hard pressed to mask his amusement when she turned around and said:  
  
"Okay, you get this suit off, I am going to make snacks, and then we are going to watch The Muppet Family Christmas until we fall over ourselves laughing.  If that doesn't cheer you up, then nothing from my childhood will hold any meaning ever again."    
  
Steve gave her a smile and moved down the hallway to his bedroom.  He tried to get at the fastenings of the uniform, but his ribs protested loudly when he did.  He must have made some kind of noise, because Darcy appeared in the bedroom doorway, concerned.  When she saw him struggling, she winced and bit her lip.  
  
"Are you okay?"    
  
He hissed at the movement of putting his arms back down and sat slowly on the bed, his muscles complaining the entire way down.  They wouldn't hurt him for long, but he was going to spend a few hours in pain.    
  
"I cracked some ribs catching..."  He said the rest under his breath, but she stared him down with hands on her hips.  In that moment, oddly, she reminded him of his mother.    
  
"Catching what?"  
  
"A volkswagon."    
  
She blinked and raised her eyebrows.  
  
"A volkswagon.  Beetle?"  
  
"I think it was a Jetta."    
  
"Right, because this is a thing that can happen, excellent.  Okay, where's the zipper on this thing?"  She asked, coming at him with her arms outstretched.  He almost flinched away, more out of surprise than anything else, but he curbed the response and waved at the general area of the zipper. "Aha...here we go.  Okay, hold still."    
  
There was a quiet sound of metal teeth coming apart and suddenly it was much easier to breathe.  Darcy's fingers found all the fastenings of the uniform top, and gradually it came loose, enough for her to grip it by the shoulders and peel it off.  She grunted at the weight of it.  
  
"Jesus, this is heavier that it looks.  Okay, next."    
  
She eyed the blue undershirt apprehensively and he was suddenly reminded of the peculiar situation he found himself in.  He could fully admit that he was deeply attracted to this woman, and he was completely unable to act on it.  And here she was, undressing him.  There was no way he was going to be able to get the undershirt off by himself however, so he just watched her bite her lip again as she reached out and ran her fingers along the hem of it.    
  
"Can you raise your arms?"  She asked him.  He nodded and brought them up as high as he could, and it was enough for her to be able to tug the shirt off.  She gasped when she turned back from tossing it away.    
  
"Steve..."    
  
He looked down, and it seemed like his torso was entirely covered in dark purple marks.  She brushed her fingers against one and the touch was so gentle, his heart skipped a beat.  Then she drew her hand back, suddenly, like she'd been bitten.    
  
"There's a first aid kit in your main bathroom, all the suites have one.  It'll have something in it for bruises.  And we should tape your ribs.  You should have stayed in medical."    
  
He didn't like the pained look in her eyes, and he caught her hand in his.  
  
"I'll be okay, Darcy.  These'll be all gone by the morning."  
  
"Yes, but you're in pain now, Steve.  And I..."  she straightened and pulled her hand from his slowly.  "And I won't have that.  Not on my watch.  And you still should have stayed in medical."  
  
She left the room before he could answer, surrepticiously swiping at her eyes again.  Steve decided to focus on changing from the uniform pants into a pair of flannel bottoms, before she came back in again.    
  
She took longer than he might have expected to get a first aid kit from down the hall, but when she did come back, her eyes were red.  He didn't say anything.  If she'd needed to compose herself, that was her due.    
  
She climbed up onto the bed beside him and opened up the kit, setting it in his lap and pulling out her supplies.  She handed him a bottle of some kind of lotion and pulled out peroxide and cotton swabs.  
  
"That's for bruises.  You can put that where you think you need it.  I'll tape you up when you're done.  While you do the bruises, I'm going to take care of these up here."    
  
She brushed her fingers against gashes on his forehead.    
  
"You don't have to..."  
  
"Let me do this?  Please?  It's more for me than for you at this point."  She was looking at him with an expression in her eyes that he didn't like much.  But he nodded and let her patch him up, while he obediently applied the cream from the bottle to the dark bruising on his ribs.  The peroxide stung, but her hands brushing against his skin felt better than any analgesic.  She found all of his scrapes and scratches and treated them all to the same treatment.  
  
When she was done, and discarded bloody cotton balls were piled beside her, she turned her attention to his ribs.  She pulled a roll of medical tape out of the kit and grimaced at it.  
  
"This is not wide enough."  She muttered darkly.  
  
"It'll be fine.  I won't need it for long."    
  
She sighed then and shook her head as she started to wrap it around him.     
  
"What is it?"    
  
"I just...do you ever regret it?"    
  
"Regret what?"    
  
"This..."  She waved her hand at him.  "Project Rebirth, Captain America.  Do you ever wish you'd made a different choice?"  
  
Steve shook his head.    
  
"No.  Before this, I was just sick, all the time.  So sick, I couldn't hold down a job much more than a couple of months.  I wanted more than anything to be useful, to contribute.  I wanted to help people.  If I hadn't made the choice that I made...I wouldn't be here, and a lot of people would have died well before their time.  I wouldn't wish that away."    
  
She was smiling at him, gently, like she wasn't sure what to do or say next.  Then she leaned up and pressed a kiss to his cheek and finished with the tape.  She stood and offered him a salute.  It would have been funny, but for the serious look in her eyes.  
  
"You are a good man, Steve Rogers.  And I am honored to work with you."    
  
He saluted her back, with a smile.    
  
"The honour is mine, Darcy Lewis.  You would have made one hell of a WAC."  
  
A grin burst out on her face and she bent to gather up the supplies.    
  
"Okay, serious moment over.  I am going to go make nachos, and have JARVIS queue up the Muppet movies.  You are going to love them, they are total classics."  
  
"Movies?"  
  
"Yeah.  Muppet Family Christmas is short, as movies go, so I've got the Muppet Christmas Carol and the two more recent specials.  If we're feeling really adventurous, we can break out Christmas Eve on Sesame Street."    
  
He followed her out of the room as she talked, absorbing the way that she moved around his kitchen, fussing over him, bullying him to his sofa with a drink of water and starting the show while she finished heating two massive plates of nachos.  One was all for him, and when he was done with it, she let him mooch off her plate with a good natured scowl.  At some point, she kicked off her shoes and curled up on the sofa, completely relaxed and snarking at the television like the Darcy he was used to.     
  
She was right though, he thought a few hours later, three movies in and she'd fallen asleep at the end of his sofa with her feet in his lap.  These Muppety things were pretty funny, and they did cheer him up.  Though, if pressed at that moment, he'd be more inclined to believe that it was the company that did it.


	5. 2 Weeks to Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 2 Weeks to Christmas, and all is not well in the world.

2 weeks to Christmas  
  
  
Of course, Stark teased them about it.  Almost as soon as he walked into the office Monday morning, Steve could hear him ribbing Darcy.  Thankfully, neither of his analysts were in yet.  
  
"Can it, Stark."  Darcy groused without even looking up.  
  
"I'm just saying..."  
  
"And I'm just saying can it.  Or you'll get a personal intro to my taser."  
  
"Geez, you're fiesty.  Fine, you're not the only person I can tease today."   
  
Steve shook his head and strode past him.   
  
"What do you want Tony?"  He asked over his shoulder.   
  
"Good morning to you too, mon capitan, you're looking well after that harrowing mission that I did not get invited on."  
  
Steve shot him a look, which Tony ignored completely as he settled himself haphazardly in one of his chairs.  
  
"Lewis is fiesty today, well, fiestier at any rate.  Was there some after mission debriefing going on the other night?"   
  
Steve frowned at the way that the other man was waggling his eyebrows at him, and the way that the innuendo dripped off his words annoyed him to no end.    
  
"If you're asking whether I slept with my P.A, the answer is no, Tony."  
  
"Hmm, well, maybe that's the trouble then."      
  
"Tony!"   
  
Tony just held his hand sup in a gesture that Steve recognized as 'hey, it's not my problem.'  
  
"I'm just saying."  
  
Steve sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.  
  
"Did you have a reason for being down here so early in the day, Tony?  I would have thought you'd still be in bed."  
  
"Actually, yes.   When I heard that shit was hitting the fan over there, I had JARVIS look into active US agencies that may have an agent matching the terrible photo your guy got of your uninvited guest.  Here."   
  
Tony passed him a tablet with a series of results displayed.   
  
"ISIS?  I've never heard of them."   
  
"Neither had I.  They're pretty old school, privately run by probably the scariest woman of all time.  They get some government funding, but they largely operate on a commission basis.  Most of this woman's time is spent trying to get more money, looks like.  Couple of good agents that SHIELD will probably make offers to, but most of the people who work there probably wouldn't pass psych evals.  It's probably why they work there."  
  
"Says they've been in operation since 1963."  
  
"Yeah, but before you get impressed with their longevity, their tech hasn't been updated in at least thirty years.  I don't know, it's like they don't know what time period they're in.  It was ridiculously easy for JARVIS to get into their servers.  Sorry, server, singular.  Who uses one server these days?  Anyway, this guy was your problem."  Tony tapped the screen and it brought up a file picture of one of the ISIS agents, name of Sterling Archer.   
  
"Who is he?"  
  
"ISIS' so called 'top' agent.  He's actually pretty capable, even when you factor in that he's drunk or high most of the time.  But he's also the ISIS director's son, so..."  
  
"So most of his time is spent slacking off and pretending to be an agent."   
  
"You got it.  They have a really twisted relationship, makes my dad look like Mother Teresa.  But it seems that they pulled the intel on this from the Interpol hot sheets, and didn't actually check to see if there were other eyes on it before he decided to go in and make an ass of himself.  He probably thought he was busting up a regular smuggling ring."  
  
"This agency looks like it functions by the skin of its teeth."   
  
"Their science division is a crazy guy in their basement, Human Resources is a woman who drag races and competes in questionable after hours sports, and their finance guy does double duty as an agent.  Not a good one, but it tells you something about the mentality over there.  And the less said about the one administrative assistant the better."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"I have done saner things on drugs."  
  
"Ah."   
  
"I thought you might want this for your reports.  Since I'd imagine you want some answers."  
  
"You'd be right.  Thanks Tony, I appreciate it.  Give this to Darcy, she's working on the report breakdowns.  She'll know what to do with it.  I'm meeting with Fury later this morning."  
  
"No problem.  So?"   
  
Steve raised his eyebrows.  
  
"So, what?"  
  
"So, what did happen the other night?"  
  
Steve sighed in exasperation.  
  
"Nothing.  Get out of my office, Tony, or I'll get Darcy in here with her taser."  
  
"Touchy.  Fine, I'll be in Foster's lab.  She'll give me gossip."   
  
Steve waved him away, and Tony sauntered out, stopping to transfer the data on the tablet to Darcy's computer.  He was gratified when he heard the man yelp a few moments later.  
  
"I warned you, Stark! Get out, or the next shot's the highest voltage!"   
  
________________________  
  
  
The part that Steve disliked the most about being 'Commander Rogers' was the interagency politics.  SHIELD was an international agency, however that didn't mean they had carte blanche in all countries, and especially not the U.S.  The FBI was touchy about SHIELD stepping into cases that they were working, and the CIA was even more irritable.   
All of this led to meetings between major players.  They were always boring as hell, hammering out where ther were lines, where the jurisdictions began and ended, who was in charge under what circumstances.  Steve would rather listen to Tony and Bruce debate protons for a morning than sit through these meetings.  
  
ISIS was a small fish in the agency pond, but were still afforded the courtesy of a meeting, to work out what had happened on Steve's mission.  If they were going to crop up a lot, there needed to be clear lines.  And the less that Sterling Archer was involved, the better.  
  
Tony was right, there was something extremely twisted between him and his mother, who, true to Tony's description was the scariest woman he'd ever met.  But Archer, as the other woman with them referred to him as, was a piece of work.  He was smooth.  In the mere hours that he'd been in the building, JARVIS' surveillance had caught him trying to chat up a few women.  He reminded him a little of Bucky, but only in his ease with women, Bucky had never been that much of an asshole.   
  
But, he smiled politely and shook the man's hand when they were finished with their basic tour of the Tower, and walked with the two agents while Fury neatly avoided being snagged by the arm by Malory Archer as they talked.   
  
He spotted Darcy coming out as they were approaching, she had prepared everything for this meeting, and she had spent the morning setting up.  She gave him a sunny smile on her way by, but Archer, who also caught sight of her, turned as she passed.  He smiled at her widely and greeted her with an obvious subtext in his tone.  Her smile turned to one that was politely proffessional, he imagined that if she spoke, she'd sound exactly like she did on the phone with reporters, and she continued on her way.  
  
Archer elbowed him once she was out of sight, a gleam in his eyes that Steve wasn't sure that he liked.  
  
"Holy shit, man, do you guys just make them hot here?  Did you see the tits on that one?"  He said, not exactly quietly.  Steve just stared, not quite believing that the man had actually said that out loud.  
  
"Yeah...she's terriffic.  At her job.  Shall we?"   
  
He saw Agent Kane hit Archer in the gut as he gestured thto the conference room, and he really hoped that this would be over soon.   
  
  
________________________  
  
  
  
It wasn't.  Malory Archer was clearly a woman who was accustomed to getting what she wanted, and having to go through a lot of crap to get it.  Steve could grudgingly respect her, because a person does not get to be director of a government, or quasi government as the case may be, without having fought tooth and nail to get there.  It was her general attitude though, that he had a problem with. It seemed to him that all she really wanted out of the whole business was to come out ahead with a few nice things in her pocket.  And he hated people with that kind of attitude. And her son irked him.  He seemed to be only paying half attention to the actual meeting, and more attention to Maria Hill's chest, and the things that came out of his mouth were worse than some of the things that Tony said.   
  
They had never heard of SHIELD before Fury had called them up.  Steve had seen the recording of the call, she'd been as sweet as pie on the com with him, so much so that Fury had had a technician pull her medical history to make sure there wasn't something he needed to be worried about.  Her background had revealed some pretty powerful connections that were still active however, so it was no stretch of the imagination to assume that she would be digging up what she could on them before they came out for the meeting.  
  
And she clearly thought that SHIELD would be a lucrative partnership, the way she was talking.  
  
And she had been talking for the better part of the morning, so that by the time they called a break for lunch, absolutely nothing had been clarified or decided upon, they just had a list of things that ISIS thought would be good about working with SHIELD.   
  
Steve escaped the meeting room, following Agent Kane and Archer out of it and heading off to his office for his coffee mug.  He passed Darcy, headed to the servery where their lunch had been delivered, she was going to be setting it out for them.  She grinned at him and made a face.  
  
"Hi."  He said, and shook his head at himself once she was gone.  "Ugh Steve, you really need to stop acting like an idiot."  He muttered.   
  
He decided to duck into the servery on his way to the conference room.  
  
What he found when he went in, though, pulled him up short.   
  
Darcy was leaning up against the wall of the room, under Sterling Archer's raised arm, where it was braced over her head.  The man pulled his head up when he came in, but it looked as if he'd been whispering in her ear.  Steve didn't get a chance to decipher the look on Darcy's face, because as soon as he offered a distraction she ducked away and darted out the door, arms loaded with the sandwiches that was their lunch, her eyes wide and panicked.   
  
Archer straightened and grinned at him.  
  
"She's so hot, she could be on fire, man."   
  
Steve knew that he was frowning.  Darcy would have called it the 'Captain America Face of Disapproval.'   He shook his head and got his coffee.  
  
"I'll see you back at the conference table, Agent."  He muttered.   
  
 ________________________  
  
  
He listened to them rehashing the same points over again once the lunch had been eaten.  Steve was now just irritated.  Archer's voice grated on his nerves and his mother was just as annoying now.   
  
"Now, surely a little partnership among agencies isn't hard to negotiate, is it?  I'm sure we can reach an agreement, shared resources can onlt benefit both of our agencies in the long run..."  
  
Steve had had enough.  
  
"All due respect, ma'am, I don't think so."   
  
"And why is that?"  Her voice turned icy, and Steve could see the tough as nails director showing through.  This was better.  
  
"Because we say so.  This is not a negotiation, Ms. Archer, you were invited to meet with us as a courtesy, but we really should be arresting your Agent for obstructing an active investigation.  A man died, Ms. Archer.  Because Agent Archer elected to go into a situation he had no intel on, and insisted on showboating his 'talents'.  Your agency is nearly obsolete, and your agents are arrogant, self serving assholes.  No offense, ma'am,"  he directed toward Agent Kane, who seemed like she had a brain that functioned, she held out her hands and shook her head, indicating that she wasn't offended.  She probably got worse treatment at the office, judging from some of the comments that had been tossed out when she said anything.  He continued, "you are entirely out for what you can get for yourself without a though or care about the consequences of your actions.  This is not the kind of behaviour that is acceptable at SHIELD.  SHIELD expects its employees to maintain objectivity in the field."  
  
He turned his glare at Sterling Archer.   
  
"And sexual harrassment is not tolerated whatsoever.  This meeting is done.  Next time you want to jump on an investigation, check that it's not already active."  He leaned back in his chair and stared at the flabbergasted expressions from the rest of the table.  He happened to glance out the door to the room and see Darcy just outside the door, a worried look on her face.  It didn't make him feel better.   
  
"I think we're done here."  Fury said.  "Agent Kane, call us if you're ever looking to actually use your skills."   
  
Steve didn't pay attention as they were escorted from the premises.   
  
   
________________________  
  
  
Later, after Fury had both congratulated him for being so decisive, he was sitting in his office flipping through the next round of files he had to start reviewing.  
  
"Hey."  A voice startled him and he looked up to find Darcy in the doorway.  
  
"Oh, hi Darcy."  He really didn't want to have this conversation.   
  
"Listen, I just wanted to..."  
  
"I think I have everything I need.  Why don't you go home early today?"  He knew his smile was tight, he could feel the effort it took to keep it in place.  
  
"Steve..."  
  
"Really.  You deserve it, you've been great, and it's almost the weekend, take a little time."   
  
He risked looking at her, and for the moment that he managed it, she looked incredibly unhappy, and he just...he couldn't deal with it.  Not at that second.  He saw her nod, looking down at her hands, then she turned and went back to her desk.  It seemed to take her a rather long time to pack up, and when she did, she didn't move with her usual bounce.   
  
He couldn't bring himself to think about it.  
  
Maybe if he had, when Maria Hill appeared in his office late in the day, he wouldn't have asked her if she could...reassign Darcy.  
   
________________________  
  
  
Darcy had gone home and installed herself in the kitchen.  If there was one thing she'd learned about life, it was that baked goods made many a thing much better, and if anyone needed a pick me up, it was Steve.  There was something unsettled in the pit of her stomach, and she didn't like it.  She couldn't get Steve's face out of her head.  The way that he'd looked when he found that asshole trying to pick her up bothered her to no end, and it annoyed her that she hadn't been able to talk to him about it.  And the way that he'd dismissed her for the day didn't feel right.  Still, she hoped that when she went back in the morning, he'd be in a better mood to listen.   
  
She was in the middle of a batch of shortbread when her phone rang.  She grabbed it in one hand as she was pulling the tray of cookies out from the oven in the other.   
  
"Hello?"   
  
 _"Miss Lewis?  It's Agent Hill calling."_  
  
Darcy straightened instinctively.  
  
"Oh, hello Agent Hill, what can I do for you?"   
  
 _"I'm calling to let yoiu know that as of tomorrow you are being reassigned."_  
  
Darcy froze, the word 'reassigned' echoing in her head like some kind of freakish cartoon moment.  Dimly she was aware of the cookie pan slipping from her grasp, clattering on the floor, spilling her cookies all over the place.     
  
 _"Miss Lewis?  Are you alright?  What was that noise?"_  
  
Darcy snapped out of it impressively.   
  
"Uh, yes, sorry.  I dropped my cookies.  Um.  What?"  She pinched the bridge of her nose.   
  
 _"Our field office in Washington D.C. needs admin support, they're a newer operation and you've been selected as the best candidate to help get them on their feet."_  
  
"But..I thought...what about Commander Rogers?"  If her breath hitched, Hill didn't say anything about it.  
  
 _"Commander Rogers has given you a glowing recomendation.  He feels that it would be a good opportunity for you."_  
  
Darcy felt something like a stone sink in her chest and she closed her eyes against inexplicable tears.   
  
"Oh.  I see."   
  
 _"Another P.A. will be assigned to Commander Rogers, he'll be taken care of."_  
  
The image of all those other girls in the admin pool flashed in her mind and she wanted to vomit.  He was going to hate every single one of them.   
  
"I'm sure..."  she coughed, "I'm sure that he will.  Uhm, so, Washington?"  
  
 _"Yes.  You're  being given leave with pay in order to give you time to make arrangements for your accomodations, if you need any relocation assistance, there will be details in the new contract.  That will be delivered to you tomorrow.  Your new assignment will be begin in the New Year.  You'll be getting a pay increase, as well as financial assistance to cover moving expenses."_  
  
"I see.  Anything else I should know?"  She asked, and winced at the clipped tone in her voice.  This time, Hill did acknowledge it.   
  
 _"For what it's worth, I think he's making a bad decision.  Half of the reason I'm not moving you immediately is to give him time to realize that."_  
  
"And the other half?"  
  
 _"I could use a P.A, but my request hasn't been approved yet.  You're good.  And when he comes to his senses, I think we can work something out."_  
  
Darcy laughed, although, a little stiffly.   
  
"He's my boss, Agent."   
  
 _"Yes.  And?"_  
  
There was something almost liberating about how she said it.  Like it wasn't such a big thing.  And maybe it really wasn't.  She had always maintained that you couldn't help who you cared about.  Darcy blinked rapidly and smiled.   
  
"You know what?  I don't really know anymore.  Thank you, for calling personally Agent Hill."  
  
 _"Maria."_  
  
"Maria.  Thank you."   
  
 _"You're welcome.  Merry Christmas."_  
  
"Merry Christmas."   
  
Agent Hill hung up, and Darcy carefully put her phone down, sat slowly at the kitchen table and shakily pressed her hands to her eyes miserably.   
  
  
________________________  
  
  
Jane was out shopping when her phone rang.  She pulled it from her pocket whilst transferring her purchase to her other hand. The caller ID told her it was Darcy.  
  
"Hey, I was just getting your Christmas present, you will never guess, but you are welcome to try."  she said into the phone, but the silence on the other end of the line was completely out of character for her usually chatty friend.  She stopped walking, causing Thor to bump into her, almost knocking her down.   
  
"Jane?  What is wrong?"  She held up a hand to quiet him.  
  
"Darcy, are you alright?"  She asked into her phone.  There was a sniff on the other end.  Jane turned to look at Thor, eyes wide.  "Darcy, talk to me, please.  Are you okay?"  
  
 _"Not really.  Can you come over, please?"_  
  
Jane blew a sigh of relief, even though it sounded like Darcy had been crying and all was definitely not well with the world.  Darcy did not cry.     
  
"Of course I can.  What's happened?"  
  
 _"Steve...he's sending me away."_  
  
"What?"  
  
 _"Please, Jane.  I think...I need a hug."_  
  
"Okay, I'm coming.  I'll be..half an hour probably.  Okay?"   
  
 _"Okay."_  
  
There was a click and Jane tucked the phone back into her pocket.   
  
"What has happened?"  Thor asked in a low rumble.  He looked concerned.   
  
"I don't know.  She said Steve was sending her away."   
  
"Impossible.  He is too enamoured of her to part with her so easily."   
  
Jane smiled and got up on her tiptoes to kiss him lightly.  
  
"Let's hope so.  There must be a reason.  Can you take these back for me?  I'm going to get a cab to Darcy's."   
  
"I could just..."  
  
"No.  We've talked about that.  Only in emergencies when we're in the city."   
  
"Yes, Jane."   
  
"And, if I'm not back in a few hours, come and find us, Darcy's address is on the fridge."  
  
Thor nodded and she handed over her bags before heading for the taxi stand.   
  
  
________________________  
  
  
Jane sat with Darcy in the living room of her cousin's place, holding the younger woman to her shoulder and letting her cry.  It was a bit of a switch, usually it was Darcy taking care of her, not the other way around.     
  
"Washington.  They're sending me to Washington.  I start at this stupid office after New Years.  I'm on paid leave until then.  It's not fair, what did I do?"  She moaned.    
  
"Oh honey, I'm sorry."  
  
"It's just...I really thought...."   
  
Jane smoothed her hair behind her ears.  
  
"Thought what?"  
  
"Steve and I were getting along really great...I thought we were friends at least.  He treats me like a person, with a real brain and everything, and he... he let me take care of him when he was hurt....  Last week we were watching Muppet movies together, now he's having me reassigned.  Couldn't he just talk to me?  This has something to do with that asshole I was telling you about earlier, I know it."  
  
"He must be pretty upset about it, if that's really it..."   
  
"Then he should go and arbitrarily rearrange HIS life, not mine!  I didn't ask for him to come on to me, I was a second away from kneeing him in the balls."   
  
"He's a guy, Darcy.  Even the superpowered guys don't always think straight.  C'mon.  We need a girls night.  We need Kate and we need Leo, and we need them now."  

****

About halfway through the movie, and a bottle of tequila, Darcy sighed heavily.   
  
"Why is it that I can atttract the horrible lecherous douchebags like there's no tomorrow, but the minute there's a good, decent guy maybe possibly on the horizon, something manages to go spectacularly wrong?"   
  
Jane paused the movie and turned to look at her.  She looked completely miserable, and it was something that Jane was familiar with.   
  
"Because douchebags are easy.  Nice guys, they're harder.  But they're worth it, in the end."   
  
"I think I might be in love with Steve, Jane."  
  
"Yeah.  I know."   
  
"I'm totally fucked, aren't I?"   
  
"Yeah.  But there are worse things."  
  
"Worse than the total agony of being in love?"   
  
Jane blinked, thought, blinked again.  
  
"Ahm...  No, you're right, total agony.  More movie?"  
  
"More movie."   
  
*****  
  
Thor found them as the Titanic was sinking into the ocean.  And for an alien demi-god, he was remarkably perceptive.    
  
"Something is amiss here."  He said, as he sat on the other side of Jane.  Jane kissed his cheek without pausing in stroking Darcy's hair.      
  
"Steve's had Darcy reassigned.  They're sending her to Washington D.C."   
  
Thor blinked.  
  
"I beg your pardon?"  
  
Darcy smiled grandly and peered at him from Jane's shoulder.  She was a little drunk, but hey, what the heck?     
  
"There was a thing today.  Some visiting asshole thought it was a good idea to hit on me."   
  
"Steve doesn't seem to be taking it very well."  Jane added.   
  
"He wouldn't talk to me after.  He sent me home early, said I was great and deserved some time.  All I wanted was to explain what happened.  Then Agent Hill called me while I was baking him some cookies.  I'm being reassigned because the office in DC needs admin staff.  But really it boils down to Steve sending me away because he's having some kind of freak out."   
  
"Darcy...the Captain must have his reasons.  He does care for you, very much."   
  
Darcy sniffed.  
  
"Maybe.  But this still hurts."   
  
"I may have to ask you to beat him up a little."  Jane added.  
  
"I will not harm my friends, Jane."  He admonished, "but when I have the opportunity, I will speak to him."  
  
"I get to hit him then.  Needs to have his head put straight."   
  
Darcy sniffled again and hiccuped, and Jane sighed.  
  
"Alright, bedtime for all good little lab assistants.  Thor, can you take her up to her room and put her in her bed please?"   
  
Thor nodded and stood, collecting Darcy from the sofa and heading up the stairs.  She snuggled into his shoulder and muttered something about tall men with shoulders.  He just smiled and put her to bed, telling her it was going to work out in the end, somehow. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won't say I'm sorry, because if you know the movie, you knew this was coming. Just hang tight :)


	6. 1 week to Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 1 week to Christmas. Baking sort of solves all problems. So does smacking Captain America in the face.

Steve stared at her, wide eyed and not quite sure that he was really believing that the diminutive scientist had actually slapped him.  Hard.  In fact he's pretty sure that she left a mark.    
  
She was glaring at him now, and this was a glare that you did not argue with.  
  
"That's right.  I hit Thor with a car twice and punched Loki in the face.  I have absolutely no problem smacking Captain America around.  What is wrong with you?"  
  
"I'm not sure..."  
  
"Don't you dare," she poked a pointy finger into his chest.  It actually hurt a little.  "you had Darcy reassigned!  Do you know what this job meant to her?  You were the first person at SHIELD to ever treat her with the respect that she deserves, to treat her like a human being, and now you're going to send her off to some jerk because of some asshole?  You're an idiot."  
  
"That's not..."  He wanted to deny it, but he didn't have any words.  She just raised a scary eyebrow at him.  
  
"What, that's not why?  Of course it is.  You may think you have some kind of ulterior motives, or having her best interests at heart or some such bullshit, but it isn't.  You saw some jackass hitting on Darcy, now you're taking it out on her, and that's a dick move, Steve Rogers.  A really dick move.  Get your head on straight."    
  
Jane Foster stalked out of his office fairly seething.  Margo Hoffsteder saw her coming and neatly avoided getting in her way. Matthews was not so lucky, he nearly crashed into her and got snarled at for his trouble.  It would have been funny if Steve wasn't thinking about what the tacit 'or else' was at the end of that statement.  He didn't understand much about Dr. Foster's research, but he knew it had something to do with wormholes to other worlds, and he wasn't sure he fancied being shoved through the first one she opened on her own.    
  
He was still staring after her blankly when he heard Barton drop out of the air vent, cursing softly when he put too much weight on his ankle.    
  
"Should you be doing that with a broken foot?"  He asked without looking at him.  
  
"Practice.  Gotta still be able to move around with busted up parts.  Sometimes you don't get rushed off the battlefield when you fall off an exploding building."    
  
The man settled into one of his chairs, propping the foot up on the one opposite.  It was encased in a walking cast, he'd read the reports for all of his surviving team.  Hawkeye's ankle was broken, but not badly, estimated recovery was six weeks without undue stress.  He wasn't sure if 'practice' was undue stress.    
  
"Does Natasha know you're prowling the ventilation system?"    
  
"Of course she does.  She practically shoved me into it yesterday.  Though, that may have had more to do with my singing Christmas carols at the top of my lungs while I tried to be domestic in the kitchen."    
  
"Why would you do that?"  
  
"Be domestic?  Have you met the Black Widow?  Does she strike you as the domestic type?  We can't live on takeout, one of us has to cook something.  I'm not terrific, but I'm getting better.  Watching Ramsay helps."    
  
"No...I meant the Christmas carols."    
  
"Oh, because it's fun."    
  
"Has anyone ever told you you're a strange guy?"  
  
"On many occasions."  
  
Steve smiled.  He liked Barton.  He was a down to earth, pragmatic guy, who saw a lot more humor in life than one with his past might.  Steve supposed it was something that they had in common.  He was also a lot more relatable than Stark.    
  
"So, Cap.  You seem to have irritated Dr. Foster in a way that means we should all avoid her lab today at all costs.  And I notice that you're missing a P.A. this morning.  Anything you want to talk about?"    
  
Being relatable didn't mean that he wasn't less nosy.  The last thing that Steve wanted to take about was the situation with Darcy.  He already felt shitty enough about it.  But...Barton and Natasha were obviously involved.  Even if their situation wasn't the same as his, he might have advice about being attracted to a coworker.  And it was better than talking to Stark.    
  
"I found that idiot ISIS agent hitting on Darcy in the servery yesterday."    
  
Barton considered this for a moment.    
  
"Okay..I'm not following. Lots of guys hit on Darcy, or they did before she started working for you.  At least one of her former bosses only saw a nice set of..."  He was holding his hands out in front of his chest and dropped them quickly.  "Tracts of land...anyway.  And I know that Thor had a few strong words with a couple of IT guys and I took out an erstwhile A/P dude with a perfect shot to the balls when he tried to follow her into the elevator."  
  
Steve was astonished.  Sure,  it wasn't like he'd ever asked her about this kind of thing, but still...it was a little wierd to hear about.    
  
"She's never mentioned anything."  
  
"Well, she wouldn't, would she?  It's not like she was exactly thrilled with the attention.  She even took down a couple herself, and that was a sight to see.  But, they mostly leave her alone now, it's a combination of nobody wants to piss off Captain America, and she's got a reputation as an asskicker now."    
  
"So, if I hadn't walked in?"  
  
"She'd have either tazed him or kneed him in the balls.  Probably with a few choice words about him and his mother.  It's pretty easy to see that she's only got eyes for you these days."    
  
"Oh."  
  
"You've had her reassigned, haven't you?"  
  
"Yeah...I didn't really know what to do."    
  
Barton made a tsking noise at him.    
  
"That was probably not the best move in the world.  I found, the more I tried to avoid Nat, the harder she came after me.  Well, that and I never stoped thinking abut her when I didn't see her."    
  
"She pursued you?"   Steve couldn't say he was totally shocked.  
  
"Like a demon.  But, it did take her a while to convince herself that it was worth taking the chance.  We'd been partnered five years before she made a move, and I tried to avoid it, tried to get reassigned.  Coulson humoured me for a mission or two, but she'd already talked to him, apparently."    
  
"Really."  
  
"Yeah.  His words were 'she came into my office and told me she was going to have a relationship with you, and there was nothing I or SHIELD was going to do about it, or she would castrate me.'  Her words were 'we talked about it.'  When Natasha Romanov wants something, there is not a thing in the 'verse that's going to stop her getting it.  When you think about it, most women are like that.  She's just scarier about it."  
  
"How do you handle, y'know..."  
  
"What, sleeping and working with my partner?  Easy, we just do it.  We've always been good at compartmentalizing.  Work is work, home is home."  
  
"What about regulations?"  
  
"Nat would tell you that there are no regulations for life.  I mean, Coulson came at us with a bunch of forms to fill out after about a year, you know, beneficiary declarations, tax forms, all that bullshit."  
  
"That was it?"  
  
"Sure.  The shit we deal with on a day to day basis, SHIELD can get fucked if it wants to start telling us who we're allowed to fall in love with.  I never read all the rules anyway.  Don't like to follow them much."  Barton grinned and winked at him, and Steve thought about everything.  He still had no idea what to do now, but he had something to think about.  After a moment, Barton stood.  
  
"Okay, well, apparently I have my own office to ignore the world in, so I'll leave you to it.  Oh, but you should know that if I hadn't come in here, Natasha was going to come down here and 'screw your head on straight.'"  
  
"Uh...thank you?"  
  
"You'd better.  Because when Nat screws your head on straight, she does it with her thighs."    
  
________________________  
  
  
Darcy woke on Monday morning with a killer headache and a fuzzy tongue.  She had a vague memory of Thor and Hane taking her out the night before, she'd had her epic bout of sad with Kane and then once she'd moped around the house a day or so, Jane had called her up and declared that she needed to get out and do something.  They had taken Thor bowling.  Which had led to more drinking.  A lot more drinking, and Jane fired up about the whole deal again.  Darcy was pretty sure she'd declared that she was going to slap him silly, but there had been vodka involved, and Jane got weird with vodka sometimes.  At the very least she was probably going to give him a sharp piece of her mind.  Darcy was largely okay with that, though she was a little concerned about what Thor was going to do now that reality was setting in.    
  
Darcy stretched, and someone tapped at her door.  
  
"I'm awake," she called out.  Mary opened the door and peered around it, looking a little awestruck.    
  
"Um....Thor is at the door?"    
  
Darcy stifled a giggle.    
  
"Is that a question or a statement?"  
  
"Shut up.  I know you said that all of that Stark Tower stuff was highly classified and you'd have to get someone to kill me if you told me anything, but...Thor is at the door!  The God of Thunder is at the door and I'm wearing Winnie the Pooh pyjamas."    
  
"I don't think he knows who Winnie the Pooh is Mar.  You're probably okay there."    
  
"That's not the point!  And...is there a reason he hung his hammer on the coat pegs?"  
  
"He's a polite God of Thunder?  Wait, he's got Myuh Myuh with him?  Jane doesn't let him take it out in public when he's making efforts at being a regular dude."    
  
Mary shrugged.  
  
"I dunno.  All I can tell you is that he introduced himself, asked for 'the Lady Darcy' and made himself at home in the living room.  I think he's telling Maggie a battle story."    
  
"He is a pretty good storyteller."  
  
"Darcy!"  
  
"I'm coming, I'm coming."    
  
Mary left, leaving her door open.  Darcy threw on a dressing down and her slippers and trudged down the stairs, and found Thor where Mary said he was, entertaining Mary's one year old with a reenactment of some battle with her dolls.  She was staring in rapt attention, and it was adorable.    
  
"Those bilgesnipes didn't stand a chance, did they?"    
  
Thor laughed.  
  
"Alas, they did not.  How do you fare this day, Darcy?  Your kin was unsure if you were capable of receiving visitors."    
  
"I've had worse hangovers.  How's Jane?"  
  
"She woke this morn with pains in her head, but was fit for her work after a beverage and something called 'ibuprofen.'  And she required a large amount of fried potatoes with her breakfast."    
  
"Good for her."    
  
"She intends to speak to Steven today.  She is most unhappy."    
  
"I know.  I kind of thought you'd be with her, if nothing more than to keep her from murdering him."  
  
"You have a saying on this world; 'just desserts'.  I find it most appropriate.  She will not harm him seriously."  
  
"And you're not planning to do anything to him, are you?"  
  
"That will depend."  
  
"On what?"  
   
"On what your wishes are."    
  
"My wishes."  
  
"Indeed.  You are the injured party.  I will take only the action that you wish me to take."  
  
"That's...actually, that's really nice Thor, thanks.  I appreciate it."    
  
"Jane is upset on  your behalf, but however well placed her heart, her actions will only serve to alleviate her own frustration.  What is it that ou wish to do to do the same?"    
  
"Well...aside from giving him a lecture to end all lectures?  I really just want to bake stuff.  I've got the time, I'm not overly keen on D.C. apartment hunting today."    
  
"Very well.  Do you require assistance?"  
  
"You offering, dude?"  
  
"I have never enjoyed the experience of creating baked goods.  I should like to learn, it may become a handy skill."  
  
Darcy grinned at him.    
  
"You're on.  Give me a bit to injest caffeine and food, and maybe have a shower, then we're going shopping."  
  
"I shall await you here.  This young one and I are bonding most excellently."  
  
"Good, bond, I'll be a few.  Yell for Mary if Maggie starts crying or smelling, that's what I do."    
  
She left him there telling the baby of a mighty hunt involving some creature that Darcy was sure she didn't want to ever see in real life.  
  
  
* * *  
  
Thor was good in the kitchen.  She knew this, had experienced it first hand.  He followed directions well and learned quickly.  He had even shared what he remembered of a recipe from Asgaard, the way he described it, it reminded her of a kind of cookie she'd made once a long time ago that involved hazelnuts.  Fortunately, Mary had Grandma's old recipe and they were able to put it together, much to Thor's delight.  It had apparently been a favourite of his mother's at the yuletide season.    
  
"You create remarkable goods, Darcy."  He told her as they sat at Mary's kitchen table with a plate of their day's creations.  She grinned at him and toasted him with her glass of milk.    
  
"Thanks, dude."  
  
"And you have made these for Steven?"  
  
"Well, not these specifically.  He's more of classics kind of guy, I just did a massive batch of chocolate chip cookies.  He doesn't really like to eat storebought stuff."   Thor made a face that had Darcy giggling.    
  
"I have tasted the fare in SHIELD's offices.  It is...tolerable. If there are no other offerings.  I do not blame him for that.  However, I fail to understand why he is choosing to lose his supply of superior fare."    
   
Darcy smiled and ran a finger over the table top.  
  
"You and me both.  I know it's because he doesn't know what to do with how he feels finding some guy hitting on me so blatantly.  And I guess I can kind of get it, we're trapped in that taboo of office relationships where we really do like each other a lot, but acting on it is going to be frowned upon and could get one or both of us in trouble.  It sucks."    
  
"Why should there be consequences for being true to one's heart?"  
  
Darcy took a bite out of her cookie and smiled at him fondly.    
  
"It's not so much the hearts as it is the situations that can come out of coworkers getting involved, especially when one partner is in a position of authority.  It can end...badly, sometimes."    
  
"And do you believe that a relationship with Steven will end as such?"  
  
She shook her head.  That was the thing of it.  Now that she wasn't there, now that she could actually sit down and think about this seriously, she could see what Jane had been talking about.  He was a really great guy, he was funny and he was sweet and he was nice.  She liked making him laugh, and she liked it when he made her laugh, and she had been glad to have been there for him when he'd needed someone.  And she really hated that she was sorting this all out now that he'd sent her away.  She supposed that it was a sign that he felt something, but it still sucked.    
  
"No.  I think that given the chance, we'd be really great.  But I can't speak for Steve, he may not see it that way.  I just wish..."    
  
She took a breath.  
  
"I just wish that he'd talked to me, is all.  We were friends, if nothing else.  I'd have understood if he still wanted to send me somewhere else, he just had to say something to me.  That's what bothers me, more than being sent off, even thought that sucks balls and I'll never see you guys, it's that he...didn't think enough of our friendship to talk to me.  That's what I'm pissed about."    
  
"It is an understandable anger.  What do you wish to do with it?"    
  
"I don't know.  I want to smack him and make him fucking listen to me.  But...I also don't want to make him uncomfortable.  If he really doesn't want me around...I think I want to tell him that it's okay, even though it's not, and well...maybe that will help.  Somehow."  
  
"That seems a logical, mature choice."    
  
"Ugh.  Don't call me mature, dude. I am so not, at least, not when I'm sitting around eating cookies and dishing about boys and feelings.  But...thanks."    
  
"You are welcome.  And what would you have me do?"  
  
Darcy clapped a hand on his arm with a smile.    
  
"Just be our friend, Thor.  That's all I want from you, and he'll probably need you to be that for him, if what I think is going to go down really goes down."    
  
"Very well.  That is what I shall do."    
  
"And maybe you could try to keep Jane from opening a portal under his desk."  
  
Thor laughed heartily and reached for another cookie.    
  
"Ah, to that, I can make no promises."    
   
________________________  
  
  
Steve was staring at the packet of store bought snack cookies sitting next to his coffee.  He hadn't been able to bring himself to open it.  He also hadn't finished the coffee.  There wasn't enough sugar in it.    
  
In the three days that Darcy had been gone, he'd had three different P.A.'s come into the office and be perky at him.  Too perky.  He didn't do perky, not their brand of perky, anyway.  And not a one of them was any good.  The first had sat at the desk all day and despaired over the data that Matthews and Hoffsteder gave her.  The second had managed the data, but the presentation she'd made out of it was so bad, he'd stood over her while she pulled up Darcy's templates and redid the whole thing.  She may have gone home crying.  He wasn't too concerned about that.  Now, this one couldn't get his coffee right, and the storebought cookies, while not her fault, were just no replacement for Darcy's homemade goodies.    
  
He missed Darcy.  Barton was right, he was thinking about her every day, in just about every situation, and he was thinking about her more than he probably should.  More than that though, it felt like he'd let something vital go, missed an opportunity, and he wasn't sure what to do with that feeling.    
  
He picked up the phone and dialled Maria Hill.  
  
"Hello Agent Hill.  This one isn't working out so well either."  
  
"I'm sorry to hear that, Captain."  There was an amused tone in her voice that he couldn't find a good reason for.  "There are a couple more viable candidates..."    
  
"You know what, it's okay.  I'll try managing without a P.A. for a while, see how that goes."  
  
"If you're sure."  
  
"Yes, I'm quite sure."    
  
________________________  
  
"No."  
  
" _Please, Jane?_ "  Darcy's voice was bordering on pleading.  If she threw in a whine, that was when Jane would agree to anything to get her to stop.   
  
"No."  
  
" _Pretty please?_ "  
  
"Darcy..."  
  
" _With sugar on it?_ "  
  
"Darcy.  It's not that I don't think it's a really nice thing to do, or that I don't think you're amazing for thinking of it..."  
  
" _Thor helped.  Literally.  Dude needs something to do with his time when you're in the lab, Jane.  You should thank me for teaching him a tasty new hobby._ "  
  
"...it's that I really don't want to go down there and be nice to him right now. I'm pissed at him!  You should be pissed at him!"  Jane continued as though she hadn't been interrupted.   
  
" _And I am.  But there's nothing I can do with that until he decides to talk to me, and in the meantime, I'd like to actually get him to talk to me so..."_  
  
"I'm still not doing it."  
  
" _Jane, it's just a box.  All you have to do is go in there and leave it for him.  He doesn't even have to be in the office when you do it._ "  
  
"Can't you ask Thor?"  
  
 _"Jane."_    And there it was, the whine.   
  
"Ugh.  Fine, I'll come and get it from you and I'll send Stark or Barton down to give it to him."  
  
 _"That'll do, Jane.  That'll do._ "  
  
"What did you get him anyway?"  
  
 _"I didn't get him anything.  I made him up a box of my cookies._ "  
  
"...you are hopelessly in love with him, aren't you."  
  
" _Probably.  I told you I was fucked._ "  
  
"To be fair, you were half into a bottle of tequila."    
  
" _Yes I was.  Doesn't mean it wasn't true._ "    
  
"Okay.  I'm just finishing with some calibration, I'll be there...an hour maybe?"    
  
 _"That works.  See you, and...thanks_."    
  
Jane hung up the phone and had JARVIS remind her to leave the lab in half an hour. 

  
________________________  
  
  
  
"Knock, knock Capsicle."    
  
Steve sighed.  He really didn't want to deal with Tony right now.  
  
"You're not on my schedule Tony."    
  
"Well, I wouldn't be, would I?  Since you don't have an assistant to schedule with anymore.  Seriously, mine doesn't know what to do with herself when she can't call up yours and poke fun at me."    
  
"What do you want, Tony?"  
  
Tony slung himself into the chair in front of his desk and leaned back.  
  
"Hm.  View's not so good anymore, huh?"  
  
Steve shook his head.    
  
"No, not really."    
  
"Shame.  She was really something."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"You know, I took the liberty of looking through a few of SHIELD's policies, you know, just to satisfy my ever burgeoning need for information, and it turns out that they don't actually have a policy on fraternization."    
  
Steve glared at him.  
  
"Guess they figure, guys like us, who are we going to find out there who'll understand this life that isn't part of it?  And it's probably true."  
  
"If you have a point, please get to it."    
  
"My point, mon capitan, is that what I told you a couple weeks ago is still true.  And you need to fix it, because this girl...she's worth it.  She sent you this.  Foster didn't want to come down here and look at your stupid face, her words, not mine.  So, I was conscripted.  I probably would have volunteered, but it was kind of funny listening to her list all the reasons she didn't want to look at you."     
  
Tony produced a brightly wrapped package from somewhere in the depths of his perfectly tailored suit and set it on his desk.  Steve blinked at it, as an uncomfortable feeling gnawed at his gut.    
  
"I will lay bets that what's in there is one or more of your favourite homemade goodies.  Not a lot of girls would send a guy a Christmas present after they've been effectively dumped."    
  
"I didn't dump her.  We weren't dating or anything."  
  
"Doesn't have to be dating to be a relationship.  She knew you pretty well, took care of you.  You guys got a long well, really well.  Reminded me a little of me and Pepper.  The early days, anyway."  
  
The nostalgic note in Tony's tone made Steve smile, though he couldn't help but think of Darcy again, and the gnawing feeling came back again.  Tony huffed a little and shook himself back into himself.       
  
"Do yourself a favour, Steve.  Don't wait ten years to take advantage of a good thing.  I don't think Lewis will wait that long for you."     
  
Steve nodded and eyed the box.  There was a tag on it, and he could see the edges of her handwriting, familiar and gut wrenchingly welcome.    
  
"Anyway, we're having a thing up at our place on Christmas Day.  Turkey dinner and all that.  If you don't have anywhere else to be, Pepper says to tell you you're welcome to come join us.  Rhodey will be there, so  you won't be, I dunno, interupting or anything."    
  
It was a nice invitation.  It had been a very long time since Steve had had anywhere to be on Christmas that was anything that resembled normal.  
  
"Thanks, Tony.  I may take you up on that."    
  
Tony grinned at him and stood up, stretching like he'd been sitting there for hours.    
  
"Okay.  I have other people to annoy today, according to my assistant.  Call us, if your plans for Christmas change at all."    
  
Then he sauntered out of the office. 


	7. Christmas Eve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Christmas Eve. Do you know where your Darcy is?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of the things that bothers me ever so slightly is that in Love Actually, David doesn't get taken to task for being an idiot about the whole thing with President Billy Bob. As cute as she is, if I'd written her, I'd have at least had Natalie berate him a little for it before letting him kiss her backstage at a school Christmas pageant. So, I fix that here.

 

Steve had left the box on his desk since Tony had brought it.    
  
Every time he looked at the tag with her handwriting on it, he had to look away again.  Tony was right, she was worth it.  He should have talked to her, or at least let her talk to him.  She'd tried, he knew that, and he'd sent her home.  He was sitting alone in his office on Christmas Eve and it was his own fault.  Her brightly wrapped present to him kept catching his attention.    
  
Eventually, he just threw down his pen and reached for the box, untying the ribbon and sliding a finger under the tape.    
  
There was a note inside the wrapping, on top of the box, but before he could reach for it, Thor appeared in his doorway.  He hadn't seen the Asgaardian in some time, something he was somewhat thankful for, because if Jane Foster had smacked him in the face, he didn't want to know what Thor might have in mind.    
  
"Greetings, and felicitations of the season, my friend."  Thor said, coming fully into the room, carrying a tray of coffee.  
  
"Merry Christmas, Thor."  
  
"I have brought you a beverage.  I am told this is your favourite."    
  
He held out a paper cup that steamed and smelled like Darcy's coffee.  He took a sip of it and sighed deeply.  He didn't have to guess who'd told Thor what his favourite was.    
  
"Thanks.  I'm uh...I'm sorry that I've upset Doctor Foster."   
  
Thor sat and sipped from his own coffee.   
  
"Jane is upset because Darcy is hurting.  It would seem that you have made a tactical error, my friend.  I have not seen womenfolk this angry since the day I stole the Lady Sif's spear for larks.  I did tell you that she counted her as a sister.  Sisters feel on behalf of the other, quite deeply."    
  
"You did.  I supposed it wouldn't help much to say that I'm sorry."    
  
"It is not I to whom you should be apologizing."    
  
"No...I suppose not.  I'm surprised that you're not angry with me too."    
  
"If I believed that you had acted with malice, I might be.  But I do not believe this is the case.  The Lady Darcy is special, is she not?  You have been quite taken with her since the day that you met her."    
  
"I suppose I was pretty obvious, wasn't I?  In hindsight."    
  
"Perhaps.  It was clever to attempt to disguise your interest, but you are not very skilled at hiding your feelings.  At least, not among those who care for you.  I believe that Stark and Barton have spoken to you regarding this...situation?"    
  
Steve snorted.   
  
"You might say that.  Although, in Tony's case it tends to come across as more teasing than anything."   
  
Thor waved the comment off.  
  
"I have learned in my short time here that this is Stark's way.  He is a complex human being, but he generally means well."   
  
"Yeah...that is true."   
  
"You are lonely, my friend.  It is something with which I am familiar.  To have friends, brothers in arms, is one thing.  But the absence of someone to share the quiet moments of our lives is something that all feel at some point or another.  I am only thankful that I have eased that, for however long I may do so."   
  
There was a contented look on Thor's face that Steve envied.  The next moment however, he was looking at him fiercely.  
  
"I had to part with my Jane for two of your years, and it was not of my choosing.  If I could, I would not willingly choose to do so again.  I am exceedingly fond of both Darcy and yourself, I would not wish to see you make a mistake, Steven, not one that will also hurt Darcy."    
  
"This isn't what I wanted for her either.  But...I couldn't get passed the fact that I was her boss.  I took the seminars on that, I had to.  I didn't want to put her in a bad situation staying either."     
  
"Be that as it may, surely there is another solution to sending Darcy away from all those she loves and who care for her, including yourself."  
  
Steve blinked, confused.   
  
"What?"  
  
Thor frowned at him.  
  
"She is being sent to a realm called 'Washington D.C.'.  You were not aware?"   
  
Steve shook his head.   
  
"No...I just asked Hill to reassign her to someone else, I didn't say to send her...away..."  Suddenly some of Dr Foster's anger made sense.  He looked at Thor, who was staring at him with sympathetic eyes.  "I thought she was just elsewhere in the Tower...I didn't know."    
  
"If you did not know then there is even less reason for me to be angry with you.  The same for Jane.  However, Darcy is still hurt.  She does not understand why you would wish to be rid of her.  She does not know what error she committed that would cause you to change your mind about your friendship."    
  
Steve shook his head again.   
  
"Nothing...it wasn't..."  He blinked, his thoughts ordering themselves with a sudden clarity.  "She didn't do anything.  It was all me and my hang ups."    
  
"And have you eliminated these 'hang ups'?"   
  
"I...I'm not sure, but I think so."    
  
"That is excellent.  Then you should speak to Darcy."   
  
"...I will.  Soon."   
     
Steve turned back to the note in the box after Thor left, and lifted it out to read it.   
  
_'Dear Steve,_  
 _These are for you, because I know how much you hate storebought shit.  Merry Christmas._  
 _Love, From Darcy._  
 _P.S: I'm sorry about the thing that happened, which, incidently if you haven't figured it out by now was not my fault, but I'm still sorry anyway, because I miss you and  (if you can't say it at Christmas, when can you?) I'm actually yours.'  - D_  
  
Inside the box were beautifully wrapped cellophane packets of her cookles.  He was out of his chair without a second thought.    
  
________________________  
  
  
Steve strode into Maria Hill's office, with purpose and more than a little annoyed.  She spent a moment perusing something on her computer before making a few clicks and then leaning back with a cup of coffee and a raised eyebrow.   
  
"Yes, Commander Rogers, what can I help you with?"   
  
"I asked you to reassign Darcy, not pack her off to another office.  
  
Maria stared at him coolly over the rim of her coffee cup.    
  
"When you asked me to reassign her, you didn't specify where.  And she's rotated through all of the departments by now.  None of the agents currently approved for a P.A. are willing to work with her.  There is an opportunity in D.C. where the office is new and hasn't developed its procedures yet.  She won't ruffle any feathers and she'll be able to thrive."  
  
"But you can't just send her away from everyone she knows!"   
  
Maria put down her cup and eyed him shrewdly.  
  
"Captain...Steve.  If you want her to stay here, the only place is your office."   
  
"Then assign her back to me again."    
  
"If I do that, are you going to do anything about our relationship with her, or are you both going to be awkward and uncomfortable being around each other because you haven't talked about whatever it was that happened between you?"  
  
Steve squared his shoulders.  
  
"That's none of your business."   
  
She sighed and turned back to her computer again.   
  
"Look...there are no rules about dating coworkers.  There hasn't really been much point since Romanov claimed Barton.  But when it's a case of a relationship with someone who reports directly to you, we would at least prefer that you don't sing her performance reviews.  I'll put her back, but she'll have a dotted line to me, I'll do all the administrative stuff for her, vacation approval, performance reviews, I'll have some work for her to do occasionally, but she'll still be your P.A.  Okay?"   
  
She stared at him from behind her desk and if he was any other person, he'd probably start sweating.  But he wasn't.  
  
"You've been planning this."   
  
"Of course I have.  She's a good P.A.  You'd have been stupid to let her go.  I actually thought you'd have been here sooner.  So, is it a deal?"   
  
"It's a deal."   
  
"Good.  Shall I call her to tell her, or will you take care of that?"   
  
Steve grinned.  
  
"No, I've got this."    
  
  
________________________  
  
  
He could have gone to Jane, or Tony maybe, for her actual address.  But he wasn't up for withstanding Tony, and he suspected that Jane wasn't going to be particularly receptive to giving him any information.  He knew that she lived near the dodgy end of Harris Street, in a townhouse with her cousin.  But as he pulled onto Harris Street in a car that he'd appropriated from the SHIELD fleet, he realised two things.  One; he had no idea which end of Harris Street was the 'dodgy' end.  And two:  
  
"God, it's the longest street in the world."    
  
Steve sighed and gripped the steering wheel with resolve, pulling into an available parking space, miracle of miracles, and got out of the car.  He wasn't about to give up now, there was only one thing to do.  He knocked on the first door.    
  
It opened to a little old lady whose eyes widened at the sight of him.  That was the moment that he remembered he was still wearing his uniform, making him instantly recognizable.  He probably should have changed before he left the Tower.    
  
"Hello, does Darcy live here?"  He asked politely.    
  
The woman shook her head.  
  
"No.  You're Captain America, aren't you?  I went to one of your shows as a girl."   Steve was very proud that he managed to not wince at that.     
  
"Yes ma'am.  Merry Christmas."   
  
"Why, thank you, Merry Christmas to you as well."    
  
She gave him a smile and closed her door.    
  
* * *   
  
The next three doors revealed a pair of teenage girls who squealed and wanted to take pictures with him, a recently discharged soldier who shook his hand warmly and offered him a salute, which he gladly returned, and a middle aged couple who thanked him profusely for doing what he was doing.  

It was going to be a very long night.  
  
Many houses were darkened, and so he didn't bother with those, there were enough with lights on to make a man crazy.  One particular house made him smile, when the door had opened, he'd looked down to find three little girls in tutus and sweaters looking up at him with wide eyes.    
  
"Ah.  Hello, does Darcy live here?"    
  
"No, she doesn't."  One of them answered.    
  
"Oh dear.  Well, Merry Christmas."    
  
"Are you singing Christmas carols?"    
  
"Ah...no, I'm not."    
  
"Please, Captain America, please?  We love Christmas carols!"    
  
"Well...I could.  Just one though."    
  
"Please!"   
  
He sighed and was extremely grateful that Tony was not there, and there was no way he would be able to get his hands on a recording.    
  
"Good King Wenceslas looked out..."     
  
The way that they danced around the front hallway of their house told him that this was probably the best thing that had ever happened to them.    
  
* * *  
  
It wasn't until he was halfway down the other side of the street that he had any luck.  Number 102 opened up to a young woman wearing a pretty necklace who did a double take when she saw him.   
  
"Hello, does Darcy live here?"   
  
She blinked at him.   
  
"No."  He nodded and turned to go.   
  
"If you're talking about Mary Lewis' cousin, she lives next door."    
  
He turned back and looked at the next door over.  
  
"Oh...thank you."    
  
"Are you really who I think you are?"  
  
He looked back at her and smiled.  
  
"Yes ma'am.  Sorry about all the alien invasion mess, we'll be doing better next year.  Merry Christmas."   
  
She echoed the sentiment and closed her door, leaving Steve standing outside staring at number 100, a fluttering in his chest that he wasn't really sure what to do with, but he'd come this far.  
  
Drawing himself up, he knocked on the door.    
  
When it opened, he found, not Darcy, but a crowd consisting of an older couple, couple of small children and a woman with the same dark hair as Darcy was standing with her hand on the door.  They were all staring at him, obviously surprised, and the woman's eyebrow rose, much like Darcy's did.    
  
"Can I help you?"    
  
"Uh, yes ma'am.  I was looking for Darcy, is she at home?"    
  
She blinked at him and turned briefly to the older couple, with raised eyebrows.  He was sure he heard her mutter something like 'you see?' under her breath, before she was back smiling at him again.      
  
"I'm sorry, but she's not here right now.  We were about to join her at the community centre.  There's a pageant that the local orphanage is involved in, she was helping them get set up."    
  
Steve could have kicked himself.  Of course.  It had been in his calendar, what she'd been able to arrange to make up for being on that mission two weeks ago.  He was supposed to be turning up there to 'officially' congratulate the kids on a job well done.   Darcy's cousin eyed him speculatively.    
  
"I should probably ream you out, but I think you've probably had enough reaming.  If you see her before we do, you can tell her that I would be expecting her back tonight.  Or tomorrow, but she can call then to tell me that."   
  
Steve found himself smiling at her.   
  
"Thank you."   
  
"Don't thank me yet.  She's still pissed at you.  Captain America on my doorstep...I can't believe it.  Who's next, the Hulk?"     
  
Still muttering, she shut the door.  Steve bolted for the car.  
  
________________________  
  
  
Steve arrived at the community centre early enough that he was able to mingle and take pictures with most of the children before the show started.  He kept his eyes peeled for Darcy, but he couldn't see her anywhere, at least not out in front of the stage.  When he described her to the woman who'd been organising the event, she'd nodded exuberantly.   
  
"Oh yes!  Miss Lewis came to help out budding stars get ready, brought some lovely cookies for them to have backstage too.  She's been wonderful with them today, they all adore her."   
  
"I'm not surprised.  She's great.  Would it be alright if I went backstage to look for her?  She's a friend of mine..."  He really didn't want to get into the full story with a woman he'd never met before, but fortunately she was nodding at him.   
  
"Of course, of course.  There are some children back there who haven't had the chance to see you yet too, they'll be thrilled."    
  
  
Backstage, even at a community centre was still exactly like he remembered it from his USO tours.  People were everywhere, set pieces and props were all over the place.  The kids that had been getting ready were exceptionally happy that he'd come backstage, and he was glad that he'd made them happy, even if it delayed his search for Darcy.  
  
Eventually though, the excitement of being onstage outshone Captain America, and he was left to search in peace.  A helpful social worker volunteering her time pointed him in the direction of the dressing rooms where she had seen Darcy headed sometime before Steve had come backstage, aiming to help with some costuming for little angels.    
  
He finally heard her voice as he approached the last door.  He hadn't realized just how much he missed her voice until that moment.    
  
"I'll tell you something that I bet no one's told you about boys."   
  
"Yeah?"  The younger voice asked earnestly.  
  
"Yeah.  They don't ever grow up.  Ever.  Inside every big man, there's this little bou in there that just wants to play with shiny toys and pull on your pigtails."    
  
"Really?   But...I don't want them to pull on my hair forever!"  The little voice sounded most put out about this idea.    
  
"No girl does.  I certainly don't.  But you know what?  They don't always do it to be mean.  Sometimes they do stupid stuff like that because they're nervous or scared."    
  
"Boys don't get scared."   
  
"Sure they do.  They just pretend that they don't."    
  
"Why?"   
  
"Oh, sweetheart, if we knew the answer to that, we would live in a world that makes a lot more sense."    
  
Steve peered around the open door and founf Darcy sitting with her back to the door, carefully French braiding a little girl's hair.  She was maybe seven or eight years old.   
  
"Did you know that Captain America is 'sposed to be coming tonight?  I bet Captain America doesn't get scared."    
  
He saw Darcy's hands pause briefly, and then resume their braiding.    
  
"I wouldn't bet on that.  Captain America gets very scared sometimes.  Like when his friends are in trouble, or when there's something wrong and he doesn't know what to do.  But, the thing about Captain America?  He doesn't let a thing like being scared stop him from doing the things that he needs to do."   
  
"That's why he's Captain America."   
  
"That's right."   
  
"Miss Darcy?  Do you think Captain America would kiss me under the mistletoe?"   
  
"Sweetheart, you are so pretty, no boy should ever need to use mistletoe as an excuse to kiss you, and don't you forget it."  
  
The girl turned around and was beaming happily at Darcy.  
  
"Am I ready?"   
  
"You are ready.  You are going to knock them dead."   
  
She clapped her hands and scampered to the door, Steve was barely able to step back in time to avoid getting hit in the face.  She pulled up short, still beaming, when she saw him, and her smile could have lit the hallway.    
  
"Captain America!  I'm singing in the finale!"   
  
"You are?  I'll bet you're going to knock all our socks off."     
  
Beyond her, he saw Darcy whip around to face the door.  
  
"Miss Darcy's done my hair all pretty.  Can I have a hug?"   
  
"Of course you can."  He knelt and gave her a hug, which she returned with gusto.  "Miss Darcy say's I'm pretty."    
  
"Well, I think you're very pretty.  And Miss Darcy always knows what she's talking about, so it must be true."    
  
He kissed her cheek, prompting a squeal and another hug, then she looked at him seriously.  
  
"I think Miss Darcy's pretty too."    
  
Steve leaned in and winked at her.  
  
"You know what?  So do I."   
  
She giggled, and then someone must have called her name in the cacaphony behind them, because she took off yelling that she was ready.  Leaving Steve alone with Darcy in a backstage room of a community centre and no idea what to say to her now that he'd found her.  She'd stood up and was putting things away in a bag.    
  
"I wasn't sure you were going to make it."  She said quietly.  He came into the room and let the door hang.    
  
"I almost didn't." He admitted.  "I'd forgotten, and I was so caught up looking for you...your cousin reminded me."    
  
"My cous- you went to my house?"  She turned around and was staring at him, in a way that reminded him of Peggy Carter the day that she'd shot that gun at him.     
  
"Uh, yeah...I..."    
  
Before he could say anything else, she'd cracked him across the face with an extremely good right hook and was cursing as she shook out her hand.    
  
"You sent me away, Steve!"  She shouted at him.  "you didn't bother to ask me about what happened, you just...sent me away.  And you think you can just show up at my house and that'll make everything alright again?"    
  
He saw her lips tremble and she turned back to her bag.  
  
"I know.  I'm sorry."    
  
She shook her head, and crossed her arms over her chest.    
  
"It may have escaped your notice, but I am quite capable of taking care of myself.  There are a few guys around the office who will tell you that.  I was two seconds away from kneeing him in the balls, and that was only because my taser was still in my purse.  I don't usually need to carry it around the office.  If you had been a moment later, you would have found a very different scene, I can tell you."    
  
Steve nodded, remembering Barton's words.    
  
"I know."     
  
"Oh, you know huh?  That's great, Steve.  It doesn't change the fact that you had me reassigned to Washington fucking D.C. because you had some kind of jealous fit.  Why didn't you just talk to me?"   
  
"Because I'm shit at talking to women.  Especially the ones that I'm attracted to."   
  
She turned back to him blinking.   
  
"Okay, well, that's nice to know I guess.  But...I thought we were friends, Steve.  You trusted me, before, when you let me take care of you, what changed?  Did I do something?"   Her voice broke a little, and there was a shimmer in her eyes that looked like tears.    
  
"No!  No, Darcy you didn't do anything, of course I trust you."    
  
"If that were true, you wouldn't have had Agent Hill reassign me."    
  
"It is true.  I'd trust you with anything, everything.  It was myself that I didn't trust."    
  
She frowned at him.  
  
"I don't understand."  
  
"You're right, about me being jealous, I was.  But not of the ISIS guy, he was an idiot, and I know you'd have put him in his place on your own.  But, it was the idea that there were other guys that were attracted to you, and were in a position to act on it, that's what I was jealous of.  I didn't trust myself not to put us in a bad position.  I was your boss, Darcy.  You have to see how inappropriate that would have been."  
  
"Of course I do!  That doesn't meant that I didn't fall in love with you anyway.  And it doesn't mean that you couldn't have -talked- to me, Steve."   
  
That was the moment that the event planner appeared at the door.  Steve felt vaguely embarrassed, not knowing how much she might have heard, and Darcy was visibly upset.    
  
"Sorry to interrupt, but I though you might want to see the last act.  Joanna's very good, and she was very excited about Captain America being here to see her sing."    
  
Darcy dashed a rogue tear from her face and smiled at her.   
  
"Of course.  Come on Steve, I know where we can watch from."   
  
She marched from the room, Steve following until they reached a spot between side curtains where they could see the whole stage from.  He could see the little girl whose hair Darcy had been working on earlier standing in the wings on the other side.  The number finishing up was a nativity play that apparently included an entire ocean of creatures present for the birth of Jesus Christ.  The papier mache whale was impressive.       
  
He turned to her in their cramped little space.    
  
"Look, I know I should have talked to you, at least listened to you, and for that I'm sorry.  I'm also sorry that I asked Agent Hill to reassign you.  I didn't know she was sending you out of New York, I felt bad enough about sending you away...it took me a week to open your present.  Thank you, by the way.  I love your cookies."    
  
She nodded, but she was still standing as far away from him as possible, arms crossed and turned away.  Her body language was still screaming hurt, and it made something twist in Steve's gut.    
  
Her words from a few moments ago chose that moment to slam into him.  'That doesn't mean that I didn't fall in love with you anyway.'    
  
Onstage, Joanna started her song, one that he didn't recognize, but her voice was sweet and singing of wanting someone for Christmas.  He looked down at her chewing on her lip and watching Joanna with a sad look in her eyes.    
  
"Darcy..."  He said, voice low.  "Are you...I mean...you love me?"  
  
She smiled a little, just a tiny one.    
  
"Of course I do, you giant dumb bunny.  I'm stupid for you.  I think I was in love with you before I even met you.  You went and made it worse by being completely awesome."    
  
He couldn't have stopped his grin if he tried.  He stepped closer and reached for her, running his hands up her arms gently.  She loosened her posture, letting him draw her out.     
  
"I might be a little stupid for you too."    
  
He was close enough he could smell her hair, and it was intoxicating.  She tilted her head back to look at him, and she was really smiling now.    
  
"Yeah?"   
  
"Yeah.  And I'm not your boss anymore.  Not on paper."    
  
She quirked her head to the side, brow furrowing in confusion.   
  
"What?  I..."  
  
"I talked to Hill.  She's reassigning you back to my office, but with a dotted line to her.  She'll approve your vacation and sign your performance reviews, and occasionally get you to do her presentations, but other than that you're back to being my P.A."   
  
She grinned and launched herself into his arms with a squeal.    
  
"Thank you!"   
  
She was practically beaming now, the spark that he loved so much lighting up her eyes, and her hands, warm little things that he remembered being so soothing when she'd been cleaning his wounds, took up residence on his sides, just aboved his hips.  He could feel their heat even through the uniform.  She stepped back, still grinning, eyes locked with his, and he bent towards her with intent.    
  
And she pressed a hand to his mouth suddenly and looked to the left.  
  
"Ssh...someone's coming."    
  
She grabbed his hand and slipped off between set pieces, pulling Steve along behind her.    
  
It was just a stagehand, but he seemed to be in the middle of some major reworking of the backstage, and kept advancing on whereever they ended up.  With a giggle, Darcy darted through curtains and hanging backdrops, finally stopping when they couldn't hear his footsteps anymore.    
  
Steve used his grip on her hand to turn her around back into his arms.    
  
"Darcy...now that the D.C. thing is off, do I get to kiss you now?"   
  
Her eyes lit up and she hauled herself up against him with the fingers of her free hand twisting into the leather of the uniform.    
  
"Steve...now that the D.C thing is off, and you recognize that you were being an idiot, you can do whatever you want."  
  
"Thank fuck."   
  
And he leaned forward that last inch and pressed his lips firmly to hers.  She tasted like peppermint candy canes and cherry lip gloss.  He thought that it might just be his She hummed into his mouth, and moved her hand into his hair, threading through the strands and mussing it up.    
  
His hand was travelling down her back when suddenly, the music around them ended abruptly and they were flooded with light.  Steve forced his eyes open a split second and too in that they had in fact stopped in front of a set piece that said 'Merry Christmas' on it above their heads, and a spotlight was beaming down directly on it, and by consequence, them as well.  Darcy peeled away and they turned to look out at the varely visible, but highly entertained, if the applause, cheering and giggling, as well as the photo snapping, was anything to go by.     
  
"Right..."  Steve mused, "so, not quite as secret as we may have hoped."   
  
Darcy giggled and tucked herself into Steve's side.    
  
"What do we do now?"   
  
"Uh...smile.  And a bit of a wave."  They smiled widely and waved at the audience, who was starting to whistle now.  "And...a bow."    
  
They bowed and Darcy pulled him off the stage, still laughing.   
  
________________________  
  
  
The drive to the Tower was quiet, but not uncomfortable.  Out of the corner of his eye, he kept seeing her glancing at him, but when he'd actually look at her, she'd be looking straight ahead.  Only the small smile playing on her mouth gave her away, and he couldn't help but smile himself.    
  
A couple of blocks from the Tower, she kissed suddenly and started digging around in her purse.    
  
"I should phone Mary, she'll be wondering where I am..."   
  
"Uh..actually, she said to tell you she won't be expecting you home tonight."    
  
She shifted and he could feel her patented Darcy eyebrow lift.   
  
"Oh really."   
  
"Yeah.  Or tomorrow.  She said."  
  
"You're gonna keep me that long?"   
  
"Doll, I will keep you forever, if I can."    
  
She laughed that laugh then, the one that he loved so much.    
  
"Careful, Commander, you might get more than you bargain for."    
  
"I'll take my chances."    
  
"Did you really go to the house?"   
  
"Yes.  Only I didn't know which house was yours.  I forgot to ask someone before I left, and Jane probably would have slapped me again anyway.  So, I went up and down the street, knocking on doors."    
  
This time she fairly howled with laughter.  And she didn't stop until he was pulling into the parking garage.  Tears were rolling down her cheeks and her smile was wide and mirthful.    
  
"Dude, that is the longest street in the world.  I can just about picture the reactions to Captain America on the doorstep.  I wish I could have seen it."   
  
"It was...something.  I sang a Christmas carol for three little girls.  Three.  They danced."    
  
"I bet it was glorious."    
  
She reached out to take his face in both her hands, turning him to face her.   
  
"Still...it was a pretty sweet thing to do though, rushing off to parts unknown to look for me.  Very RomCom."    
  
This was a reference that he didn't understand, but elected to ignore it, given the way she was looking at him.  He folded a hand over one of hers where she was still holding his face and smiled at her.    
  
"I'd do it again, if I had to.  I think I'd probably do anything for you."  It was such a sappy thing to say, he knew that even as he said it, but he didn't really care all that much.       
  
Her answering smile was wide.    
  
"Don't tell me that, I'm mischievious.  If I know that, you're in for it."   
  
Steve shrugged.   
  
"Don't care."   
  
"Hm.  C'mon handsome.  Let's go upstairs."    
  
The tone in her voice conveyed more than her words could have.    
  
________________________  
  
    
Somewhere around noon the next day, Darcy phoned her cousin and begged off dinner in favour of joining Steve up in the penthouse for dinner with Pepper and Tony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a massive beast, but now we have the happy ending. All that remains is the epilogue. And maybe some outtakes: scenes that I wrote, but ultimately I couldn't make work. But the outtakes won't get typed until I finish the fic exchange fic.


	8. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One month later...

Epilogue - One Month Later

  
  
The quinjet landed on the roof with only the slightest tremor, belying the damage it had sustained in battle.  One of the robots thought it made a nice plaything and had thrown it around a bit.  It, and Tony.  He'd been more indignant than damaged.      
  
There was a crowd of people waiting outside the yellow caution lines, teams of medics waiting for the wounded to be dropped into their care.  Fury and Hill were waiting for their reports and both Pepper and Jane were on the outskirts, patiently.    
  
Steve was the last one off the jet, following after Barton, who was being carried out on a stretcher -again- and Thor, who was helpfully carrying the archer's bow and quiver and regailing him with a story about a time that he'd been injured in battle and had been confined to the healing rooms for so long, he'd driven the healers mad.      
  
He was tired, dirty and in desperate need of a shower, but the moment he heard her shout, he forgot all of it.    
  
Darcy broke through the crowd of plane techs and medics, pelting across the tarmac in her heels.  He caught her deftly as she launched herself at him, her legs winding around his hips and her arms around his neck firmly.  She was already kissing him when his brain caught up.   
  
He ignored the catcalls and the applause, and the fireworks Tony was launching from the suit and kissed her back thoroughly.  With the promise of more to come later.    
  
She pulled back with a grin and kissed the end of his nose.  He grinned back.   
  
"God you weigh a lot."    
  
"You shut your face, Mr. I can out bench press Thor.  Our bed is fifteen floors down, I dare you to carry me all the way there."    
  
"And what do I get if I complete this dare?"   
  
"You get your Valentine's present early.  It's red and frilly."   
  
"Ooh.  Frilly."    
  
He hoisted her up more firmly and headed for the elevator, a wicked grin firmly in place on both of their faces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And, cue the Beach Boys music. Thanks to everyone who has left their wonderful comments on this story. If I haven't replied to you individually, it's not because I don't love you, it's because I'm lazy and have had too much to do these past couple of weeks. I hope that you all enjoyed this story, I really enjoyed writing it.


End file.
